Frost/Nixon - Released 26 December 2009

Feature films centred on political themes are usually interesting for those interested in intellectual thoughts, however, no films of such genre has ever been entertaining enough for the average thinkers. You could be forgiven for having no knowledge of the interviews between David Frost and Richard Nixon prior to the release of this movie. Director Ron Howard and screenwriter Peter Morgan wanted all of us to think that it was a point of importance to the world in terms of politics and journalism combined. No true story can be told 100% truthful to the audience using film, but Howard and Morgan manages to stay loyal to the true events that served as inspiration.

Being an average political viewer, and not so much of a political film fan, the Frost/Nixon interviews are quite fascinating to me. Maybe not all of the questions or answers, particularly when Nixon rambles on trying to avoid questions by offering anecdotes in place of answers. Regardless, they are still an invaluable source of history. Viewing the movie allows us the opportunity of seeing a key politician as a normal human being.

The movie was presented in a funny yet intelligent way, very well-paced, Morgan’s expert in structuring the entire movie perfectly and a hint of cleverness. Frost/Nixon was well directed and this is the sort of writing we do not see enough of nowadays.

The cast was certainly good enough for this flickt. Frank Langella and Michael Sheen were superb. They both managed to accurately portray their characters while still adding their own personalities. I would bet that Langella will probably take the Oscars at the end of the month. However, it is Michael Sheen who quietly steals the film away from Langella. Sheen brought the much needed grief to a film. If it was not for him, the movie could have just been a movie about two guys talking head to head. Oliver Platt, Kevin Bacon, Rebecca Hall and Toby Jones needs to be acknowledge here as they were giving out solid performances doing a lot with so little. However, I have to give an ovation to Sam Rockwell as he was the one that really stood out among the supporting cast members. Rockwell to me is not known for giving a solid performance, but in this one, he manages to sink into the role rather effortlessly. The only other movie that I have seen him acting at his best was in Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind.

There are just so much production values in this movie that I don’t even think I can cover in this review. In summary, you will not find those political messages, rather it is just a fun movie with a very clever script. The great cast was just an added bonus and I think after Apollo 13 Ron Howard has delivered his other best work in this one. A film I greatly recommend anyone to watch.

4/5 Stars for this great piece of work...

FROST/NIXON TRAILER