Review – The Parallax View

How can a movie about assassinations, conspiracies, brainwashing and all kinds of other creepy-cool stuff possibly be so boring? Director Alan J. Pakula proves himself the master of shots that go on and on well beyond necessity or even interest. Much of the dialogue is mumbled. The story never really seems to go much of anywhere. There’s a moment or two here. The assassination at the beginning is startling, even though we all know it’s going to happen. The weird brainwashing sequence in the middle is sort of interesting (though even here it goes on too long). But overall the whole thing has a strong whiff of an Altman-esque rip of The Manchurian Candidate. I’ve said it before about movies like this: I’d rather just watch the original again. If you can’t top the classic, don’t take it on. Mildly amusing