The Ides of March

Politics, psychology, intrigue, manipulation. It’s good, with excellent performances and a solid narrative value. It's just a shame that it's too short and therefore not very epic, but much more like television. In terms of atmosphere, Michael Clayton was slightly better and broader. Just when it was starting to get really suspenseful, the end came. (09/11/2014)

It's not entirely George Clooney's fault, because he was once again successful behind and in front of the camera, but The Ides of March, I would say, is his least successful directorial effort to date. From my point of view, everything is mainly due to the choice of substance, because political dirt, intrigue and the fact that the person who smiles and means well (not only) during elections can be a scumbag is nothing new. And since nothing actually happened in the 100 minutes of that I didn't expect, the plot didn't really progress, and I felt like a lot of it was missing. Especially the ending was too rushed and bland. Nevertheless, the film is very well shot and acted, accompanied by Desplat's wonderfully listenable music, and it’s certainly not boring. It's just that compared to Clooney's previous works it's nothing special.__P.S. I found Ryan Gosling incredibly unsympathetic, but that's probably how he was supposed to come across. (02/15/2012)

Clooney is precise. All of the storylines are designed to the smallest detail, Gosling’s acting is excellent (he’s having a really good year right now) and even I would have chosen Clooney. The chess game is great to watch. The lesson of the story is somehow too classic and so there is nothing world-shattering about the Ides of March apart from well-made drama. (12/28/2011)

George Clooney has proven many times in his directing endeavors that he is no stranger to sophistication, and a political investigation literally seemed like a treat for him. And yet I'm disappointed, and I must admit that I'm quite taken aback that there was no sophistication this time around. I expected him to dig into the highest-ranking politicians, but for the second half to labor through transparent twists towards disillusionment and broken hearts is too certain a step. Allowing the viewer to see into the fastest verbal machine guns and then easing towards morality is little more than a minor betrayal. (02/04/2012)

I watched The Ides of March twice. I watched it for the second time mainly because I wanted to find out whether this movie was really boring or I just didn’t pay enough attention to it during the first watching. And I must say that even though the story is really interesting, I’m not in the mood to watch something that reminds me of the Czech government, where betrayal and revenge are part of the daily agenda of just about every political party. The actors were indisputably great. Ryan Gosling was amazing, even. That, however, doesn’t change the fact that this politics crap is not my cup of tea. (12/24/2012)