A slow-burning political thriller for those who feel like a change of pace from the high-octane action of the Bourne franchise, The Company You Keep sees Hollywood’s golden grey boy Robert Redford at the helm…
THE COMPANY YOU KEEP
A slow-burning political thriller for those who feel like a change of pace from the high-octane action of the Bourne franchise, The Company You Keep sees award winning director and Hollywood’s golden grey boy Robert Redford at the helm.
Redford is in the lead role as Jim Grant, a New York based attorney whose old life as a Weather Underground member (Vietnam era radicals often in explosive opposition towards the U.S. government) Nick Sloan threatens to derail the new one he’s managed to keep in check since going into hiding – despite having eluded capture from the feds for the past several decades.
Implicated in a bank robbery shooting in the 1970s that left one man dead, Jim sets out to clear his name with the help of some old friends from his Weatherman days all the while being nipped at the heels by a volatile but determined FBI agent (Terrance Howard) and a plucky reporter (Shia LaBeouf), the latter of which hopes that a nationwide exposure of Grant’s former leftist activities will cement him as a hard hitting journo in a climate awash with social media.
Based on the novel by Neil Gordon and produced by The Hurt Locker’s Nicolas Chartier, The Company You Keep features a slew of Oscar winning actors and nominees including Stanley Tucci, Richard Jenkins, Susan Sarandon, Nick Nolte, Chris Cooper, Sam Elliott, Julie Christie, Brendan Gleeson and Anna Kendrick.
Despite the undeniable appeal of this star-studded cast, the majority of these performers are given generally modest screen-time to compensate for Redford’s desire to tell a stern, cat-and-mouse style chase thriller steeped in political intrigue. Trouble is, even though the film features an interesting premise and makes a point to meld a contemporary vibe with old-fashioned filmmaking sensibility, it never feels like it really gets going due to a decidedly thin level of suspense when compared to others of its ilk, and a script that shies away from siding itself with anyone in particular, leaving the viewer feeling largely indifferent to the plights of these characters despite an initial willingness to get invested in them.
Opening with a present day arrest at a gas station of WUO member Sharon Solarz (Sarandon in fine form) that kickstarts journalist Ben Shepard’s (Shia LaBeouf) investigation, the standout interview scene between the two that follows in a police interrogation room provides a steely thematic contrast between generational ideologies as well as a showcase for LaBeouf’s ability to hold his own as an actor outside a Michael Bay setting. He is arguably playing the most compelling character in the film when compared to the all too fleeting presence of his heavyweight co-stars.
Robert Redford’s performance is equally earnest, and the pairing between him and fellow grizzly old radical Donal played by Nick Nolte (gargling tar in typical Tom Waits fashion) generates a feeling of enduring if temporarily misplaced camaraderie that’s required to see the story through to its conclusion.
And yet, the film doesn’t have a strong enough resonance or enough substance about it in order to make it stand apart from the usual man on the run tale except for what is likely an unintentional air of at times loquacious navel-gazing. Stilted chase sequences (though to be fair, Redford is surprisingly limber for a bloke approaching 80) do little to deviate from the lack of forward momentum, despite them being coupled with a solid soundtrack by Cliff Martinez (Drive, Contagion) and occasionally beautiful cinematography by Adriano Goldman (Jane Eyre, City of Men).
Although the film is sincere and well intentioned, Robert Redford ultimately doesn’t bring enough to the table in the directing chair to elevate the material to a level that would have us believe that we haven’t seen this type of thing done better before (Running On Empty, The Fugitive). That’s a shame, because going by the stellar cast assembled and the potential here, a film of this magnitude and star-power shouldn’t have come off feeling as pedestrian as it does. It’s worth a watch just to see this many great actors all in one basket, but they’re ironically too few and far between each other for The Company You Keep to keep you on the edge of your seat.
?? 1/2 (Average)
Reviewed by Arlo Hollands, 12 April 2013
Playing in NZ cinemas from 2 May 2013
Running Time: 125 min
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