‘Good Kill’ DVD Review: A Military Misfire

Good Kill is an interesting film, but that’s about it. The plot is thin, the characters are flat, and the tone is heavy and preachy.

‘GOOD KILL’ DVD REVIEW

While the film has some interesting elements, it’s rather heavy and slow-paced. The story centers around U.S. air-force pilot, Major Thomas Egan (Ethan Hawke), who did six tours of duty overseas before technology took over the war. Now, Egan flies drones over Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen, shooting suspected Al-Qaeda members from the safety of a Las Vegas air base, 7,000 miles away from the targets.

The drones provide a clear image of what is happening half-way around the world, and viewers watch along with Egan as he blows up suspected terrorists, innocent by-standers, and sometimes the unfortunate child who wanders into the kill zone right before impact.

By no means does Egan take this job lightly. At the start of the film Egan is rather confident that the targets he is asked to ‘take out’ are justified. However, when the CIA gets involved in their little operation, sending one bomb after the other on the same target in order to decrease the likelihood of retaliation, and often killing innocent people, it starts to take its toll on Egan. Some of his fellow soldiers are starting to feel uncomfortable with their participation in these violent acts of war, but Egan is especially bothered. He starts drinking heavily as his job takes its toll on his mental state, as well as his marriage.

It is interesting to see how war is being fought in this day and age: almost like a video game. The film is certainly realistic. However, as a whole, the plot of Good Kill is thin, and the characters are flat, aside from Hawke’s character who he plays very well.

One of the lines in the film, spoken by Lt. Colonel Jack Johns, Air Force Commander (Bruce Greenwood), explains that “Drones aren’t going anywhere. In fact, they’re going everywhere.” These words basically sum up the entire film and its purpose: to show viewers how this has become the reality of war.

This is Hawke’s third film with Andrew Niccol as director (Gattaca, Lord of War). Hawke spoke to Military Times about his experience with the film. “It’s a weird thing to be actively engaged in battle and be able to pick your kids up from school,” he said. “And [service members] have never had to do that before, and it’s worth talking about.” He went on to say that, “What we do, and how we use this technology is the question of our time.” Too bad this film doesn’t take this point any deeper.