Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE/ARTS
Wednesday 1 november 2017
Review: In ‘Last Flag Flying,’

an anti-war tale told again

By JAKE COYLE rouser of the bunch) and the guys buy cell phones,
AP Film Writer Rev. Richard Mueller (Lau- marveling at the inven-
In this era of rampant se- rence Fishburne, whose tion) while so much stays
quelizing, has any filmmak- character draws partly the same. It might be 30
er more playfully inverted from Young’s real life) — to years later, but time hasn’t
the standard more-of-the- bury his son, a Marine killed altered the injustice for the
same monotony than Rich- in Iraq. foot soldiers enlisted to fight
ard Linklater? The source of the tale is ill-conceived wars. When
His Oscar-nominated author Darryl Ponicsan’s the guys arrive in Wash-
“Boyhood” was, if noth- 2003 novel, which was a ington to see the body
This image released by Lionsgate shows Laurence Fishburne, ing else, a compendium direct sequel to his 1970 of Doc’s son, they soon
from left, Bryan Cranston and Steve Carell in a scene from “Last of life’s chapters, filmed book, the one Ashby and find themselves disagree-
Flag Flying.” — and lived — year after Towne turned into a film. ing with a hardline Marine
Associated Press year. His “Before” trilogy But Linklater’s film has sev- colonel (Yul Vazquez) who
reteamed Julie Delpy and ered some of those ties, disapproves of Doc’s deci-
Ethan Hawke, every nine changing the characters sion to bury his son at home
years, for strolling encoun- names and slightly shifting in Portsmouth, New Hamp-
ters that compressed and their background while still shire, instead of at Arlington
marveled at the passage maintaining much of the National Cemetery. The
of time. His last film, “Every- connective tissue to “The colonel and his tone are, to
body Wants Some!!” was Last Detail.” It is, in some Sal, exceedingly familiar.
billed as a “spiritual sequel” sense, another “spiritual se- There are scenes here that
to Linklater’s “Dazed and quel.” pulsate with anti-war pas-
Confused” — a college Why distance “Last Flag sion, sometimes a little too
movie to bookend a high Flying” from “The Last De- obviously, sometimes ef-
school one. tail”? Well, not everyone is fectively. But despite its
In Linklater Land, nothing is so familiar with Ashby’s film, flaws, the film gathers an
ever “rebooted.” The rip- and perhaps more to the honest force as it burrows
ples of time are interesting point: Filling the shoes of deeper into its characters
enough, just as they are. Nicholson is a fool’s game, as the group (along with a
But Linklater’s latest, “Last if ever there was one. current Marine played by
Flag Flying,” is a still more But while the film’s gentle, a memorable J. Quinton
unorthodox kind of sequel. rolling humanism is indeed Johnson) makes its way up
It’s a kind of follow-up to its own, “The Last Detail” the coast.
Hal Ashby’s great 1973 film stands like an unspoken It’s a trip that glimmers with
“The Last Detail,” in which island around which the both mournful reflection on
two petty officers (Otis movie flows. The balance the human cost of war and
Young and a young, blis- of trio is off, too. Cranston, the abiding camaraderie
tering Jack Nicholson) who a very gifted performer, among soldiers.
are transporting a naive is acting like a funny live- That “Last Flag Flying” is a
18-year-old soldier (Randy wire while Nicholson simply sequel, with future install-
Quaid) from Norfolk, Vir- was one. Carell, who can ments sure to come, is the
ginia, to the brig in New render innocence as well point. Times change. New
Hampshire, where he’s as anyone, gives a perfor- wars are fought. The same
been sentenced to serve mance that feels hollowed kids pay the price.
eight years for attempting out by its grieving solem- “Last Flag Flying,” an Ama-
to steal $40 from a charity nity. Fishburne, never one zon Studios release, is rated
box. unsure of his footing, alone R by the Motion Picture As-
Ashby’s film was a real- feels in the right place. sociation of America for
time odyssey, glorious in its And while “Last Flag Fly- “language throughout in-
fiery expletives (courtesy of ing” is missing the edge cluding some sexual refer-
screenwriter Robert Towne) of Towne’s dialogue, ences.”
and seething in its outrage. it’s a deeply thoughtful Running time: 124 minutes.
As a film, it’s still alive, and film about how so much Two and a half stars out of
Nicholson’s cackle still changes (in one scene four.q
echoes.
“Last Flag Flying” is a jour-
ney mapped over the
same terrain, but the cen-
tral trio are now well into
middle age and their rea-
son for reunion, three de-
cades later, is more mel-
ancholy still. Larry “Doc”
Shepherd (Steve Carell, in
a version of Quaid’s char-
acter) gathers together his
old Vietnam War buddies
— Sal Nealon (Bryan Cran-
ston, the Nicholson-esque,
anti-authoritarian rabble-