[The_Return]

Frost/Nixon

In the interest of full disclosure, this post may contain some comments that could be seen as minor spoilers: but, let's face it - if you're going to see this movie, you probably know how it's going to end anyway.

Anyway.



Near the end of the film, Sam Rockwell's character says the following of the success of the final Frost/Nixon interview: "....the rest of the project and its failings would not only be forgotten, they would totally cease to exist."

I feel the exact same way about the film itself.

The movie is a damn slow burn in the beginning, and it really didn't grab me at first - seemed very bland, as though I had seen it a million times in every other "charismatic underdog" movie. But once Frost hit his stride and Nixon shattered his veneer with an ultimately damning phone call, I was in awe. Powerhouse performances from both leads, a whip-sharp script and masterful direction all rise together in a deafening crescendo and end in one of the most stunningly powerful scenes ever put to film. And I was left staring at the credits, utterly stupefied by the display of talent I had just witnessed.

Is the movie perfect? No, far from it. But by the ending, just like Rockwell's character says, not only are it's flaws forgotten: it's as though they never even existed.