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In war movies, soldiers often travel to hostile lands, risking their lives to defend their country. But in Good Kill, writer/director Andrew Niccol offers a new take on the same old war story—one that seems to suggest that, while methods continue to change, the effect is still the same.
Good Kill shows a completely different side of modern-day warfare—one that’s fought from thousands of miles away, in an air-conditioned control room. Ethan Hawke stars as Major Tommy Egan, a fighter pilot who hasn’t seen the inside of a cockpit in years. Instead, he spends his days piloting drones from a computer screen in the Las Vegas desert before heading home to his wife and kids in the suburbs.
It seems as though Tommy has it all. After all, he can fight the war without leaving his family. But he struggles to separate the horrors of war from the backyard barbeques. And when his crew is called in to work secret missions for the CIA, he begins to question the war—and his role in it.
Good Kill offers a fascinating new viewpoint on the war on terror. The drones present a different way of doing things: warfare from a distance. The men and women doing the fighting may be in the desert, but it’s a very different desert, halfway around the world. And though it often feels more like a video game than an actual battle—and the recruits are often talented young gamers—as the team’s commander warns, the kills are very real.
Admittedly, the life of a drone pilot isn’t as tense and action-packed as the life of a soldier stationed in the middle of enemy territory. Theirs is a world of speakerphones and computer screens. But the characters’ new and unusual perspective seems to promise a new and unusual kind of war movie. Unfortunately, though, it soon gives in to the same old war movie formulas. Tommy’s struggles to adjust to family life seem all too familiar—from his increasingly reckless behavior to his frequent squabbles with his long-suffering wife, Molly (played by January Jones). And Hawke fails to add much depth or emotion to the role, instead reacting to almost everything as though he’s just bitten into a lemon.
The other characters, meanwhile, are just as stereotypical as the story, often spouting off cheesy one-liners as they gleefully follow orders to bomb whomever their nameless CIA contact deems deserving. It feels a little too black-and-white: the dim-witted characters brainlessly follow along, while the smart, thoughtful characters are quick to protest. And those who live in the grey areas—like Tommy’s commanding officer (played by Bruce Greenwood)—often come off as half-hearted and sometimes even weak.
Through thoughtful direction and insightful observations, Niccol hints that there’s much more to the story—and to the film itself. But the film’s unique perspective often ends up lost in the clichés.
With its mix of new methods and old formulas, Good Kill seems to reveal that, no matter how or where it’s fought, war is war. It will always tear lives, families, and nations apart. But while that makes for a thought-provoking film, it isn’t as fresh or distinctive as you might expect.
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