3.5 stars. Rated PG-13, for war violence, dramatic intensity and mild profanity
By Derrick Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 6.9.17
Next time my parents grouse that
movies aren’t like they used to be, I’ll point them toward this one.
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| Newly deployed in Fallujah, Iraq, Cpl. Megan Leavey (Kate Mara) and her explosives- sniffing dog, Rex, are assigned to detect the improvised explosive devices (IEDs) hidden in and alongside the road on which their vehicles need to travel. |
Director Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s
Megan Leavey is a straight-ahead
drama with plenty of heart, told in the uncomplicated manner that marked
family-friendly movies back in the day ... and I mean that as a compliment.
Scripters Pamela Gray, Annie Mumolo and Tim Lovestedt tell this story
efficiently and poignantly, without needless emotional angst, and Cowperthwaite
ensures that the narrative doesn’t slide into manipulative bathos.
Best of all, this is a true
story: one likely to be remembered by those who followed the saga’s final
chapter in 2012. While events have been compressed — as often is the case, with
big-screen adaptations — Cowperthwaite and her collaborators hit the essential
high points; the result is a thoroughly engaging and deeply poignant drama. And
if you’re not moved by the final scene, you’re truly made of stone.
On a sidebar note, it also marks
a solid star turn by Kate Mara, who has spent the last decade impressing TV
viewers with memorable supporting roles in 24,
American Horror Story and House of Cards. She hasn’t been as lucky
with big-screen work — and probably wishes that 2015’s Fantastic Four hadn’t happened — but this new film should enhance
her profile, and deservedly so.
Her Megan Leavey is introduced
here in 2003, as an aimless, desperately unhappy 20-year-old New Yorker taking
up space in her bedroom. Her mother, Jackie (Edie Falco), has become disgusted
by this daughter who, we can assume, probably has been a nightmare child for
many years. Then again, Jackie is no prize; Falco makes her such a believably
horrid shrike that Leavey’s actual mother might have grounds for character
assassination.
At low ebb and with no other
plans, Megan impulsively joins the Marines, surviving boot camp and
subsequently attending military police school at San Diego’s Camp Pendleton.
But her “wild child” tendencies haven’t quite been eradicated; an ill-advised
night of misbehavior results in a week of scut detail in the camp’s kennel unit
... and the promise of a dishonorable discharge, if she screws up one more
time.
Not to worry. Megan is
immediately fascinated by the K9 unit, and particularly by a massive,
apparently unruly German shepherd named Rex. Gaining permission to have
anything to do with this dog, however, means buckling down in all sorts of
ways, before the K9 unit’s gruff Sgt. Gunny Martin (Common) will give her even
a second glance.
