The Bar

Starring: Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Tom Cruise

Director: Robert Redford

Writer(s): Matthew Michael Carnahan

Studio: MGM

Rating: R

Official Bar Score: 

Two determined students at a West Coast University, Arian and Ernest, follow the inspiration of their idealistic professor, Dr. Malley, and attempt to do something important with their lives. But when the two make the bold decision to join the battle in Afghanistan, Malley is both moved and distraught. Now, as Arian and Ernest fight for survival in the field, they become the string that binds together two disparate stories on opposite sides of America. In California, an anguished Dr. Malley attempts to reach a privileged but disaffected student, who is the very opposite of Arian and Ernest. Meanwhile, in Washington D.C. the charismatic Presidential hopeful, Senator Jasper Irving, is about to give a bombshell story to a probing TV journalist that may affect Arian and Ernest’s fates. As arguments, memories and bullets fly, the three stories are woven ever more tightly together, revealing how each of these Americans has a profound impact on each other–and the world.

Tom Cruise (senator) went all out in this movie. His first movie under his own production company (the revived United Artists). He got a lot of one on one time with Meryl Streep (reporter). Mainly because he either sat or stood near his office desk and did a lot of talking to her. As a matter of fact, that’s all that anyone did in this movie, lots of talking. There was some military action. A gay couple in the army fall off a helicopter in Afghanistan and land injured in the snow. This part intertwined with Robert Redford’s (teacher) character. He also sits or stands next to his desk doing a lot of talking to a promising young student of his.

This movie had a political message about our current war, here is what I got out of it: We shouldn’t have small factions of our military setup all over the place and try to fight in smaller groups because it didn’t work in Vietnam. We should not trust Iran, because they are helping everyone. When a senator says “I am not running for president”, that means he is. Journalists have no integrity anymore, because all the media outlets are part of bigger business corporations that have their own agenda’s.

I had a feeling going into this movie that there was going to be no real ending to it….I was right. See it for yourself to find out. I will say that the acting was good, the direction was good. The story left me with an empty feeling. There was no climax. The whole movie seemed like a “beginning”, leaving out the climax and ending.

I give this 2 beers based on everything else.

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