The Unseen War

Author(s): Bryce M.Location: LA

"The Unseen War"
Directed by: Lawrence Kasdan

Written by: Lawrence Kasdan and Tony Gilroy

Produced by: Lawrence Kasdan, David Brown, and Steven Soderbergh

Cinematography by: Robert Elswit

Film Editing by: John Gilroy

Main Cast
Ed Harris as Bill Channing

Hugo Weaving as Cameron Dingle

Keanu Reeves as Sam Throttle

Samantha Morton as Morgan Tristan

Cuba Gooding Jr as Jack Wells

Heather Graham as Lucy Dwells

Rosemary Harris as Mary Margaret

Tagline: "The war nobody has seen, but everybody has watched"

Synopsis: Bill Channing is the president of the nation's most successful television network. Along with his hard headed advisor Sam Throttle, he has gained a massive fortune, and an extraordinary amount of power to go with it. However, after a new television network is established, headed by their intimidating president Cameron Dingle and his advisor Morgan Tristan, Bill's network finds tough competition with Cameron and his new network. As Bill and Cameron continually try and outdo the other by getting simular shows, selling rip off products, and competing for important financiers, Mary, a well known and respected leader of many protests, is ready to fight both companies. Her fight gains much popularity as she spreads her claims of the television companies being manipulative and evil. As she gains more power from the press and the people, Bill and Cameron realize that one of them will have to go down, or both will fall. Fortunately, both networks have a plan.Bill has sent Jack Wells, a desperate poor intern with dreams of hitting it big, to seek employment at Cameron's network and catch him in an affair with his advisor Morgan, which would ruin his reputation and hopefully his network. Meanwhile, Cameron has also sent in an undercover spy, Lucy Dwells, to seduce Bill and Sam and get as much valuable info as she can get; so that Cameron can run Bill's network into the ground. With an amazing forged resume, the two spies are successfully able to be employed at the rivals company and are getting close to achieving their goals.Will Jack be able to catch Cameron in a seductive affair, and destroy his network? Perhaps Lucy will get some very important and valuable information from seducing Bill or Sam, so that Cameron can destroy Bill's network. Or maybe Mary might just get the support she needs and bring both of the mischievous network's to their knees.

What the Press would say:
"The Unseen War" is what the science community would call a hybrid, when talking about it's genre. It's a thriller, psychological drama, and a surreal look at a part of the television industry we haven't seen. What makes the movie so innovating is how it balances all of these attributes perfectly, being equal parts of them all. Audience will find themselves analyzing these characters, and trying to understand their psyche, while also being on the edge of their seat, waiting for one of the spies to get caught, or one of them to finally accomplish their goals. This is definitely one of the most physically, and mentally draining films of the year. The acting is great, but what makes it much more interesting is the fact that almost all the actors involved play against type, or play what they usually do but almost like a purposely cliche version of the character. The best example of this is Cuba Gooding Jr. The usually loud actor plays a desperate, shy, quiet, and nervous intern sent to be a spy at the rival company. It's so weird seeing him in a role like this, but he was a delight, and reminded me of why he is such a good actor despite the recent horrible movies he has been involved with. Then you have Hugo Weaving playing this intimidating villainous character, as he usually does, but like I said earlier it's as if Kasdan is purposely shaping the character from a cliche villain. He even adds in the evil laugh, twitchy eyebrows cliche. I think by doing this Kasdan was trying to convey the message of, "These corporation leaders are as fake as the television shows they produce, while the little guys of these corporations are more real than anything on T.V" It's a difficult theme to pull off, and after Kasdan last directorial attempts I wouldn't think he could pull it off, but, as you may have guessed, he nailed it perfectly.In addition to Gooding and Weaving being a delight, there was also some great performances from Ed Harris and Keaneu Reeves. Keaneu Reeves is mostly there as a sort of parody comical relief, but he definitely stole some scenes with his snappy and quirky dialogue. Ed Harris is once again brilliant as his power hungry corporate president. The envy is in his eyes, and the greed is in his voice. One of my favorite performances from the actor.Kasden has a great sense of what movie he wanted to create. The performances are specific to a certain design, along with the atmosphere, and the theme. It all plays together like a symphony, or a beautiful opera. The pacing of the film is pitch perfect, being fast in the scenes that need to be fast, and the slow in the scenes that are highlighting a specific area that is important. This is the type of film you will need to see over and over, finding something new every time you watch "The Unseen War".

Best Picture

Best Director- Lawrence Kasdan

Best Actor- Ed Harris

Best Actor- Hugo Weaving

Best Supporting Actor- Cuba Gooding Jr.

Best Supporting Actor- Keaneu Reeves

Best Supporting Actress-Rosemary Harris

Best supporting Actress- Heather Graham

Best Original Screenplay- Lawrence Kasdan and Tony Gilroy

Best Film Editing

Best Original Score

Best Cinematography

Best Sound Editing