chicagopoetry Review of The Company You Keep

The Company You Keep (2012)

Loses the Attention Span Halfway Through

[6/10 · 14 April 2013]

Let's appreciate The Company You Keep for what it is, potentially Robert Redford's last movie before he's too old to make any more movies and yes, he's old and I mean old in this one. The plot starts out solid enough, the entire premise is sound, the cast of actors is top notch, yet somehow halfway through everything becomes muddled and we lose interest (at least I did). There's really no suspense involved, Redford is on the run, some rookie journalist played by a miscast actor has all the answers that he pulls out of thin air, Susan Sarandon just sort of disappears into thin air, and everyone seems to be saying no matter what they are saying "Okay let's get this over with already we're all tired and we need to take a nap." Really? Couldn't one of the Weather Underground maybe blow off a few modern day explosions as least to keep us entertained or couldn't there have been a more Tommy Lee Jonesish pursuit or any kind of cliff hanger whatsoever? This film really feels like it's made by a really old person too tired to color outside the lines and that's sad because it's a film about the Weather Underground, one of the most radical organizations of American History. I don't know why anyone would want to make a film about radicals that isn't radical.