Watched an obscure movie last night. Thanks to Netflix, a movie I’d never heard of came to find itself in my queue. John Cusack on the cover grabbed my attention. Grosse Pointe Blank is one of my all time favorites, so I had to give it a watch.
Right off the bat, I could tell this was going to be a different kind of movie, would take some introspection, and special attention, I’m sure a couple follow up screenings to “get” the subtle nuances.
In a nutshell, the U.S. is in a “war”, for the first time completely funded by private contract organizations. Corporations were at the top of the pecking order, the government followed, then the people. The film is set in the fictional Turaqistan, occupied by the private corporation run by a former US Vice President. The goal of the corporation is of course purely financial. Instead of US flags, the soldiers wear the corporate logo. Tanks are lined with ad banners and marketing from McDonald’s to Popeye’s Chicken.
Cusack, an ex-CIA hit-man hired by the corporation to kill a Middle East oil minister while visiting a trade show staged by the corporation for this purpose, acts as the trade show producer. Our protagonist struggles with his growing demons while organizing a high-profile wedding and keeping a left wing reporter at bay.
There’s a muddled area where you get lost in the cross stories, but they tie up nicely in the end. Overall, I really enjoyed the movie. As I said, I’m sure I’ll have to watch a few more times to “get” the movie fully, but I definitely recommend, in today’s political climate, its not a far stretch of the imagination. If you’re not into political satire, check it out just to see Cusack at his typical dry wordy/witty best.
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