Shock and Awe

    Shock and Awe
    2018

    Synopsis

    A group of journalists covering George Bush's planned invasion of Iraq in 2003 are skeptical of the presidents claim that Saddam Hussein has "weapons of mass destruction."

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    Cast

    • James MarsdenWarren Strobel
    • Woody HarrelsonJonathan Landay
    • Rob ReinerJohn Walcott
    • Jessica BielLisa Mayr
    • Milla JovovichVlatka Landay
    • Tommy Lee JonesJoe Galloway
    • Richard SchiffThe Usual
    • Teri WyblePam
    • Al SapienzaArthur
    • Wayne PéreIntelligence Source

    Recommendations

    • 63

      Movie Nation

      If nothing else, the timely Shock and Awe is a blunt reminder of how important a skeptical press is in countering a popular government — or even an unpopular one — that is hellbent on lying, misleading, on doing something for nefarious reasons, and has all of cable news, talk radio and a truth-averse internet backing it up.
    • 60

      Los Angeles Times

      If this swift, entertaining film, set during the post-9/11 run-up to the Iraq war, brashly leans left, it has history on its side as well as, it seems, the interests of our soldiers.
    • 60

      The New York Times

      At a time when the current president routinely dismisses the accuracy of reporting, Shock and Awe feels more timely than it might have. It also captures an aspect of journalism not often portrayed: the fear of being wrong when the conclusions of your reporting break from those of your competitors.
    • 50

      The Hollywood Reporter

      The message tends to melt into a paint-by-numbers screenplay that pushes too many genre buttons to be thoroughly exciting.
    • 50

      Screen Daily

      Densely factual and sometimes a little unweildy, this is a film in which good intentions outweigh style and execution.
    • 50

      Variety

      The shock feels less than shocking and the awe less than awesome in Rob Reiner’s righteously motivated but clunkily executed exposé of media manipulation in the run-up to the Iraq War.
    • 50

      New York Magazine (Vulture)

      The problem isn’t Reiner taking dramatic liberties with the facts, it’s that his toolbox for doing so hasn’t changed since the mid-’90s.
    • 38

      Slant Magazine

      Rob Reiner's film rests on broad, sweeping proclamations about the importance of factual reporting.