I saw the trailer for this at a CMX theater and decided the trailer was weird enough to make me see this film. At its start, I pegged it for a comedy in the way Taylor Swift's character, Liz Meekins, was killed, coupled with Christian Bale's glass eye popping out. Although my wife gave me a sidewise look when I laughed.
But about a third of the through, the plot line became serious, and the focused changed to watching a plot unfold that would have assassinated FDR to allow American businessmen to deal with Adolph Hitler and Mussolini so they might enrich themselves.
The cast of this film is excellent with the three principles-Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, John David Washington-turning in excellent performances, especially Christian Bale who becomes Burt Berendsen.
Regardless of the great acting, I believe the audience lost attention as they became lost in the unexplained plot curve. Even at the end as the credits begin to roll and you see and hear Robert De Niro (General Gil Dillenbeck) juxtaposed against the actual general whose testimony exposed the traitors, Marine Corps General Smedley Butler, speaking the same words, the audience is just left confused and upset.
The film's message is just as important today as it was 1934; but the history it's based upon just isn't known, and I am not sure anyone knew what they were watching. Perhaps if a company is going to make a major film based on a basically unknown piece of history, they need to inform the audience ahead of time.
I hope this film becomes a classic not only for the acting team assembled here; I don't want to forget Rami Malek, Zoe Saldana, Mike Myers, Henry Norcross, Chris Rock, and others who did such great work, but because one message is one we can't afford to ignore: Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.
