Movie Reaction: Last Flag Flying

Formula: The Last Detail + 30 years

Richard Linklater is one of those directors I like the idea of even more than I like his movies. Don't get me wrong. He's has made some excellent movies. Everybody Wants Some!! has been rising steadily in my 2016 rankings. I'll take one of the Before movies over just about anything. I'll even ardently defend his Bad News Bears remake. More than that though, I like that there's someone doing what he does. I don't think any director has been as interested in the passage of time as him. Boyhood is the obvious example of this, being shot over 12 years. The Before series as well, checking in on the same characters every nine years. You could even argue that the Dazed and Confused and Everybody Wants Some!! pairing is an attempt to recreated the same magic at different points in his life (successfully, by the way). Beyond that, he's one of the greatest directors at filming a conversation. He's a master at stopping and letting a two people or a whole group talk for a while without it feeling like he's killing time and without it feeling like a filmed play. All the things that I love about Linklater's films are on display in Last Flag Flying, and a few of the things I'm not such a fan of too.

Last Flag Flying is sort of a remake or spiritual sequel to the Jack Nicholson movie The Last Detail from the 1970s. Set in 2003, it's about Larry 'Doc' Shepherd (Steve Carrell) reuniting with two old Marine buddies, Sal Nealon (Bryan Cranston) and Richard Mueller (Laurence Fishburne), to pick up his son's body from the Dover Air Force Base. Doc's son was a Marine as well, killed in Iraq. His wife is no longer around, so he decides to track down these two men he hasn't seen since his Vietnam day to help him through this, because, for some reason, that feels right. They then help him bring the body back to Doc's home in New Hampshire to be buried. There's not a lot else to the plot. It's just a road trip movie. That's about it.

The meat of the movie is a series of conversations between the  three leads and a Marine liaison played by J. Quinton Ross, who was friends with Doc's son and tasked with staying with his body until it's buried. The three men have changed a lot since their days in Vietnam. Shepherd has retreated within himself. Mueller found god and became a reverend. Sal is a functional alcoholic. It's great seeing how they initially have to feel each other out slowly, but by the end, it's like they never lost touch at all. They cover a variety of topics like war, god, family, and government - all the biggies. Linklater mixes up the groupings a lot. Even when the story isn't going anywhere, I'm fine with it, because I just like seeing these actors bounce off one another.

Carrell goes impressively small with his performance. He's by far the quietest of the gang. He's taken a beating from life, and although he hasn't given up, he's clearly done fighting battles he can't win. Cranston is the closest to a stock character. He's the charming rogue. You can't rely on him for much, but when he finds a few moments of focus, you remember why you keep him around the rest of the time. Fishburne is someone who works very hard to maintain himself. It's not that he's a ticking time bomb waiting to explode. It's more like a bomb expert who knows what he's dealing with and how to handle it. He's fully in control of his demons, not blind to them. Despite having only a few screen credits, J. Quinton Ross hold his own against the veterans. He does a great job of knowing when he needs to be the disciplined Marine and when he can relax a little. He likes the three leads, knows when to listen to their sage wisdom, and when to humor them.

My big issue with the film is that it does go on a little long. A casual pace is hard to keep entertaining. Linklater is as good at doing it as anyone, but this still hit a point where I did start to feel the run time. I was convinced while I was watching it that it was at least 2.5 hours long when it's actually barely over 2.

Enough about this movie works that I'm glad I saw it, even though I didn't gain that much by seeing it in a theater. It's a nice showcase for all the leads and finds a good balance between the serious and funny moments. It was a pleasure to spend a couple hours with these guys.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend