Reign Over Me -- Powerful Post 9/11 Drama

Reign Over Me, a powerful new post-9/11 drama, features two of the year's most gripping performances by Adam Sandler and Don Cheadle. Sandler, as almost no one has ever seen him, stars as Charlie Fineman, a former dentist who lost his wife and three daughters in one of the plane crashes on 9/11. Don Cheadle portrays Alan Johnson, Charlie's college roommate and a successful dentist who spots Charlie one day on a street in New York City. Having read about the tragedy involving Charlie's family, Alan uses the chance encounter to rekindle his friendship with the reclusive former dentist. Charlie, who spends the majority of his time alone playing electronic games in his apartment, welcomes the opportunity to get to know Alan again. The two men spend a substantial amount of time together, and yet Alan notices that Charlie never mentions the family he lost on 9/11.

Cheadle's Johnson is in stark contrast to Sandler's Fineman. Alan is happily married with two daughters and is comfortable with the responsibilities that come with running a booming dental practice. But the more time Alan spends with Charlie, the more Alan's wife (Jada Pinkett) senses that his growing relationship with Charlie provides him with something that he is seemingly unable to receive from their marriage. On the other hand, Charlie becomes more and more dependent on Alan and demonstrates on more than one occasion just how emotionally repressed and stunted the tragic deaths of his family have left him.

Alan's renewed friendship with the emotionally wounded Charlie is a challenge for him and his wife. He struggles with the obligation he feels he owes Charlie, and is somewhat tempted by the freedom he briefly experiences during their nights out on the town. Gradually, Alan understands that Charlie's way of coping with his losses is to shut out the rest of the world and to rearrange the kitchen the way he thinks his wife would have liked. In response to his observation, Alan seeks help from a counselor friend, a beautiful and serene Liv Tyler, who shares the same office building. Charlie proves to be a demanding client for her indeed.

Reign Over Me is especially insightful in the way it explores love and friendship and the equilibrium that they bring to our states of being. The film shows us a wandering Charlie, who lost all that he loved. It effectively depicts his struggle to come to grips with his losses and to regain his equilibrium through his renewed friendship with Alan. For his part, Alan gains strength and balance from his friendship to address some brewing issues in his own life. The film reminds us just how vulnerable we all are, not only to potentially devastating tragedies, but to losing the equilibrium needed for us to maintain who we are and who we are destined to become.

Written and directed by Mike Binder, the film displays a confidence in the way it depicts its characters and their travails. Reign Over Me is the second impressive film from Binder, who directed The Upside of Anger, an equally-effective drama about an alcoholic mother of four daughters grappling with the disappearance of her husband. With this effort here, Binder has given us the first post-9/11 movie of its type, a searing drama that explores not only the loss of life but the loss of love and the states of being suffered by those who must pick up the pieces from that fateful day. Although there are some comedic moments throughout Binder's script, it is the deep yearning for love to reign over the lives of the film's emotionally-wounded characters (echoed in the film's fitting original song by Pete Townshend) that is most likely to linger in the hearts and minds of viewers long after the film concludes.

Grade: B+

Wahlberg and Cast Save Shooter

Shooter, the new action thriller starring Mark Wahlberg, is one of the few films of its genre in wide release early this spring. Like many action films, it is predictable and preposterous in its plotting and unabashedly so. And yet Wahlberg and his supporting cast are engaging enough to make the film a fun romp in high adventure escapism. Cast members of lesser talent may have dialed in their performances and collected their paychecks with minimal effort, which would have reduced the film to yet another forgettable action yarn. Thankfully, the actors and a somewhat talented crew nearly rise above the material, making Shooter a mildly memorable action drama.

The film owes pieces of its story to a number of highly successful movies from recent years. Its plot is reminiscent of those in Tears of the Sun, Training Day, The Fugitive, U.S. Marshalls, and it even includes a small dose of Rambo: First Blood. Familiar plot elements shouldn’t come as a total surprise. Shooter was directed by Antoine Fuqua, the talented filmmaker who directed Tears of the Sun and Training Day. While Shooter may not be the best film in this lot, it is marginally better than at least a few of them.

Wahlberg portrays Bob Lee Swagger, an ex-US military marksman who drifts into seclusion after losing a very close friend while trying to escape from enemy territory. He’s lured back into duty to try and prevent an assassination attempt on the President of the United States. An African government official is killed instead, and Swagger is subsequently framed for the murder and the assassination attempt. Swagger enlists help from Sarah Fenn, the fiancée of Swagger’s deceased friend, and teams up with a young FBI agent to find out who was ultimately responsible for the set up and why.

Shooter, which is based on Stephen Hunter’s novel, Point of Impact, features several fun, inventive performances. Danny Glover portrays a conniving colonel, and Ned Beatty hits just the right note as a corrupt senator. Wahlberg, fresh from his Oscar-nominated turn as a Boston detective in The Departed, continues to shine as a leading actor in mid-tier Hollywood action movies, and his performance here is no exception. Wahlberg is competent and comfortable as the rugged and ruthless Swagger. The thirty-five-year-old actor, who has seemingly carved a nice niche for himself, is slowly emerging as Hollywood’s “go to leading man” for mass-audience action films while other actors in this genre seem to be at curious crossroads in their careers.

Despite predictable plotting, Shooter attains a certain level of craftsmanship. From its pitch perfect performances by Ned Beatty to its overall conspiratorial tone, the film ultimately reflects some sense of purpose. Never mind that the film’s purpose is revealed in a devilishly-delivered platitude about the hypocrisies of the American political system by Beatty’s rogue senator. Shooter’s release comes at a time when American citizens question the legitimacy and truthfulness of various parts of the U.S. government. As we watch Swagger trying to outwit his highly-placed nemeses, we begin to wonder if there isn’t at least a hint of verity in the film’s underlying cynicism about honor, service, and justice in the U.S.

Grade: B-