The dark comedy, The Men Who Stare At Goats, was released this past weekend. The movie is based on a book by the same name penned by Jon Ronson, concerning reports of the U.S. armed forces' involvement in training psychic spies.
The film features a star-studded cast, with big names like George Clooney - who also helped produce - Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey.
From the outset, the movie gives a disclaimer in big, bold letters: "More of this story is true than you would believe." This puts the viewer in a much more open mindset, which is essential for this film.
McGregor portrays a writer, Bob Wilton, whose wife leaves him for his editor. In response, Wilton goes to Iraq but cannot find a way in. He then meets Lyn Cassady (Clooney), who is on a secret mission to find his mentor (Jeff Bridges) - but that is not necessarily the main aim of the film. The big concept with this movie is that the U.S. government actually spent money on the army to develop these psychic soldiers.
Kevin Spacey does the best job in this movie by far. His idiosyncrasies and the rareness of his character in the general storyline provide him with the opportunity for memorable, well-executed punch lines.
One thing that bothered me, though, is the constant mention of the psychic soldiers being "Jedi warriors." Though the reference is not too far-fetched, mentions of Jedi would not be all that bothersome if Ewan McGregor was not on screen every time the lightsaber-wielding supermen were brought up. Let me clarify for those who don't know: Ewan McGregor played Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars Episodes I
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