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Hot take: Last Flag Flying

Writer's picture: AmrutaAmruta

'Last Flag Flying' is a film about three war veterans that get thrown together many years later under unfortunate circumstances. The three characters -- Sal, 'Doc' and Mueller -- seem like a writer's fantasy, archetypes rather than real people. Sal is a foul-mouthed, alcoholic bar owner who's lost faith in everything, including God, Doc is a middle of the road guy who doesn't seem to have very strong opinions about anything, and Mueller is the reformed bad guy, gone from doing drugs and girls to becoming a born-again Christian.

The film, which is structured like a road movie and follows its predictable beats, must get its drama from the interactions between these three differing personalities, but the slightly stilted dialogue, contrived plot elements and stray philosophical asides about faith in the government and God hamper the organic flow. The star power of the protagonists (Steve Carell, Laurence Fishburne and Bryan Cranston) hangs heavy over the characters, so we often feel like they are performing these people rather than really inhabiting them. J. Quinton Johnston as a young Black soldier does a fine job portraying a simple character with nuance, and makes the three veterans look like they are working in broad strokes; more's the pity.

The film only ever really works when director Richard Linklater's reflective style manages to capture real moments of camaraderie (evidenced by a fantastic boys-only rowdy session in the cargo hold of a train) or human warmth (in a lovely scene where the three veterans meet the widowed mother of a young dead soldier). Linklater shows us what he can do with dialogue like "Yeah we were all something once. Now, we're just something else." but this line comes early in the film. The rest of it doesn't quite get close to matching its simplicity or insight.


Genre: Drama, Comedy, War

Language: English

Runtime: 2h 5min

Year of release: 2017

Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime Video


Hot take is a series in which I offer my first impressions of films from India and around the world.

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