REVIEW: Last Flag Flying

Directed by Richard Linklater
2017 Drama
2 hours 5 minutes
From Amazon Studios

Starring
Steve Carell
Bryan Cranston
Laurence Fishburne
J. Quinton Johnson
Deanna Reed-Foster
Yul Vazquez
Cicely Tyson

The truth is this wasn't on my radar but the holidays must have overwhelmed me and all of a sudden I was in need of a posting and nothing was quite ready.  What to do?  Well, the quickest is to review a current film but I had already checked the Friday listings and nothing particularly rang my bell.  And then I remembered that Last Flag Flying had opened and decided it would have to do.

I had seen the previews and although they looked interesting enough, I detected right off it was another one of those buddies-on-the-road movies and I thought I dun' thin' so, Lucy.  They can be fine, rather entertaining, often crude, full of childish, vulgar, toilet humor but if I catch those at all, it's usually on the tube.

But when one is in a crunch to get something published on a promised Friday, I allowed a wave of Bryan Cranston and Richard Linklater to rush over me.  I knew it would mean the movie is at least a notch or two over the usual of this brand and before I knew it, there I was at my favorite theater in a plush, comfy seat with my flavored coffee.  I am happy to report it all worked out.

Last Flag Flying takes place during the Bush2 Iraq wars.  Doc (Carrell), a shy, nearly mute widower and former Marine, has been informed that his son, also a Marine, has been killed in Iraq.  The military honors him as a hero and plans to bury him in a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.
 
Doc decides to look up two old Vietnam buddies after many years apart and ask them to join him on the trip to Washington.  I'm not sure I recall the character's motivation for doing so, but there's the suggestion in the script that we shouldn't have to deal with the really terrible things in life alone.  One buddy is Sal (Cranston), the owner of a less-than-successful bar, a man who is wildly outspoken, profane and one who seems to need to have his way.  He is also an alcoholic and a rabid non-believer.  

We mention this because the other friend, Richard (Fishburne), is a minister.  He is a married man with a large congregation and is a devoted man of God.  He is less interested in going along than Sal but his wife talks him into it.  They both think it will be unsettling for him to be with one friend while doing his Christian duty for the other. 

So off they go to a Marine holding station with its numerous caskets.  Sal and Richard learn that the dead son is not deserving of being called a hero and technically, perhaps, not deserving of the military honors they plan to bestow upon him.  Richard wants to stay mum, allow things to go as planned and shrug it off as a big so-what.  Sal, on the other hand, finds it low that his beloved Marines would do this, pointing out it's the lie he doesn't like.  Richard doesn't want Sal to tell Doc but he does.

Doc reacts by saying that he will take the casket himself and the three friends will drive it to an alternative cemetery in Doc's hometown.  It doesn't, of course, all work out quite so neatly but getting to the end, for the most part, is an eye-opening and ear-splitting time.

The writing is incisive and there are more than a few occasions it would make a number of folks sit up and pay attention.  One may not be ready for the in-your-face opposing points of view on God, for example.  I hope we're not so jaded that we scoff at a warning about the language.  Why, this film would have one believe military people are potty-mouths.

It is based on a novel by Darryl Ponicsan who co-wrote the screenplay with director Linklater.  Ponsicsan's novel is a sequel of sorts to his superior The Last Detail, which was made into a film with Jack Nicholson in 1970. 

Unfortunately, about two-thirds of the way through and for 15 minutes or so, it lost its steam.  What made things move so well in the first part is due to the friends getting reacquainted.  Once that had dissipated some, the focus changed to the logistics of the trip and the story languished a bit.  There was a segment on the trio getting their first-ever cellphones that should have been edited out.

All the actors delivered the goods.  Carell is top-billed but the movie belongs to Cranston from start to finish and secondly to Fishburne.  To call Sal colorful would be an understatement and he is the lifeblood of the piece.  Most joyous was simply watching these three excellent actors play so well off one another. I must say it was nice seeing Cicely Tyson again although it was for just one scene.

Linklater, as director and cowriter, has again let us look at characters that are well-developed (thank you, thank you, thank you) and who are affected so deeply by their pasts.  The film certainly has something to say about friendship, truth, loyalty and God.  To its credit, it does so in ways that are touching and emotional.  Linklater's films always seem so sincere and this is no exception.



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The Lovers