Good Kill

"I had information that the Taliban commander's brother would attend the funeral. So I waited until they were all there, saying their prayers... and then I blew them up too. That's my job." Thomas Egan (Hawke) is a major in the US Airforce who is trying to adjust to the modern "flying", piloting drones. He spends his days bombing and surveying damage 7000 miles away and his nights trying to reconcile what he as done. His life causes strain on his marriage and overall well being. This is a very interesting movie. It deals with something I never really thought of before, drone pilots can get PTSD too. This is not a happy movie at all, but it is a very realistic movie. Half of the movie shows how the pilots feels about piloting drones and the aftermath of their consequences. The other half is about the commanders and how they feel about the effectiveness and usefulness of them. Both sides make convincing arguments and that keeps you interested, invested and involved in the movie. Unlike some recent war movies this one does nothing to glorify the awfulness of battle and really makes you think. Overall, one of the best and most realistic war movies I have seen. More like Platoon than American Sniper. I really liked this one. I give it an A-.

Greetings again from the darkness. It sounds like a screenwriter's workshop: write a story centered on a joystick, a computer monitor, a speaker phone and a shipping container. Most would surrender their Pulitzer dream and head back to the day job. Andrew Niccol, on the other hand, is a talented writer/director known for such projects as Gattaca, Lord of War, and The Truman Show. His story is set in 2010 and is "based on a true story" of drone warfare.

It could seem a bit dated to explore a topic that most have known about for years, but Niccol manages to wring out a story that keeps us engaged and more importantly, encourages discussion about the concept of "video game warfare".

Ethan Hawke plays a fighter pilot who has been reassigned as a drone pilot after serving 6 tours in Afghanistan. Each day he reports to duty on a Las Vegas base and spends 12 hours locked away in a cramped shipping container staring at a video monitor while delicately manipulating a joystick that can kill people 7000 miles away within 10 seconds. These killer drones have transformed warfare, and as far as I know, this is the first film version dedicated to the daily lives of the men and women serving this duty.

Given what we know about fighter pilots, it's not surprising that Hawke's character is crumbling emotionally … missing the danger that comes with a real cockpit. His marriage to January Jones is void of any intimacy or communication (partially due to his alcoholism), though surprisingly, Ms. Jones delivers something other than her typical cardboard cutout performance. Watching the suburban lifestyle of these two – grilling, backyard parties, math homework with the kids – brings nothing new to the screen, but tension is palpable as Hawke and his co-drone-pilot Zoe Kravitz are locked away and forced to follow morally-questionable orders from Langley (voiced by the great Peter Coyote). Put yourself on that joystick and imagine what you would do.

The story pushes us to discuss the dehumanization of war, and the idea that the Air Force is now best described as the "Chair Force". Especially interesting is the official verbiage used by the CIA and military in an effort to avoid "killing" and "innocent bystanders". Think about the fact that 3 decades have passed since we got caught up in the thrill of Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer as Top Gun pilots, and now some of the most deadly decisions are made based on a visual feed from a done hovering at 10,000 feet.

Mr. Niccol delivers a thought-provoking movie, which alone sets it above many. The drone's eye view follows not just the movements of the enemy, but also those of Hawke at home and in his car. Hawke's commanding officer is played by Bruce Greenwood, who delivers the film's best line: as Hawke is looking at Greenwood's fighter pilot photos, he says, you are probably thinking "I must have been a pilot before Pontius". It's a great line and one that reinforces how warfare has changed … from boots on the ground to recruits based on their video game savvy. Surgical strikes are the preferred manner of warfare, so watch this and ask yourself … what would you do?

Drones with Hellfire missiles lurk for entire days over selected targets around the world. Those who control the drones, sitting in air conditioned shipping containers near Las Vegas, are close enough sometimes to see the expressions on the faces of people as the missiles strike. The film explores complications involved in the strikes including; how easy it is for innocents to end up among the dead, difficulties in determining when and who to hit, confused chains of command, how easy it is to make mistakes or corrupt the process, and how we might feel if we were in the shoes of our targets. Major Thomas Egan (Ethan Hawke) is a vodka guzzling former pilot who laments how the U.S. Air Force has become the "U.S. Chair Force." We follow him in the office and at home as he sinks into depression, indifference and fatigue, and he still controls the trigger that determines, somewhat shakily at times, who lives or dies. While the plot could use some additional creativity and depth, and the acting is somewhat shallow, the film explores a fascinating subject. Actual strikes, from Wikileaks, add an extra dose or realism. Seen at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.

Even though I hate every war and soldiers on this planet I did enjoy this movie. It's all about the ethics of war. Who has the right killing other people? And is it fair for the innocent bystanders to get killed and being considered as collateral damage? Because let's be honest, the people that are at the top of every government and/or army, the people that decide if we should go to war or not, those are the people that will never get killed because they are the biggest cowards on this planet. They risk absolutely nothing but still get the credit in case of a victory or whatever. In Good Kill Ethan Hawke plays the soldier that has to push the trigger to kill people from the other end of the world, without being in the front line. He has to follow the dubious orders from maleficent evil people that have only greed and possessions as values in their lives. I thought it was a good movie, if you want to think a little bit further then the mainstream war propaganda we see every day. A good movie if you are like me thinking that every war is completely ridiculous. If everybody would mind his own business then there would never be wars. But then again, we are humans, the parasites of this planet, and thinking this madness will ever end is just an utopian idea.

Sometimes movie-making can be at its best when it does not simply entertain but poses challenging questions about contemporary issues. "Good Kill" asks us whether it is moral, legal and even effective to use Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (so-called drones) to eliminate assumed terrorists, even when collateral damage (that is, the deaths of non- terrorists) is likely or even certain. These are not academic questions: the use of drones to kill Islamic extremists has been extensive under the Obama administration in the United States and, just before I caught up with this film, my own government in Britain confirmed the use of drones to execute ISIS militants.

We see all the action - surprisingly close up and personal thanks to the amazing military technology - through the eyes of a Las Vegas-based fighter pilot turned drone pilot Major Thomas Egan. He is played by Ethan Hawke who is known for his wordy roles in films like the "Before ..." trilogy and "Boyhood" but here is laconic, showing the pained emotions in his face and movements more than in his few words - especially to his long-suffering wife Molly (January Jones).

New Zealand-born screenwriter-director Andrew Niccol ("Lord Of War") ensures that both sides of the argument are put, but there is no doubt on which side he himself sits. At the end, there is a sequence which gives the viewer some satisfaction, even a thrill, but Niccol has cleverly made us complicit in an act, the like of which we have spent most of the movie certainly questioning and possibly even condemning. "Good Kill" had limited theatrical release and success but it is a brave and honest attempt to make a political movie that raises vital issues.