The Men Who Stare at Goats (film)

The Men Who Stare at Goats
Directed by	Grant Heslov
Produced by	Paul Lister George Clooney Grant Heslov
Written by	Screenplay: Peter Straughan Novel: Jon Ronson
Starring	George Clooney Ewan McGregor Jeff Bridges Kevin Spacey Goat
Music by	Rolfe Kent
Cinematography	Robert Elswit
Editing by	Tatiana S. Riegel
Studio	BBC Films Smokehouse Westgate Film Services Winchester Capital Partners
Distributed by	Overture Films Momentum Pictures
Release date(s)	September 11, 2009 (2009-09-11) (TIFF) 02009-11-06 November 6, 2009
Running time	94 minutes
Country	United States United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	$24 million[1]
Gross revenue	$68,729,358 [2]

The Men Who Stare at Goats is a 2009 comedy film directed by Grant Heslov and written by Peter Straughan and released in theaters on November 6, 2009. It is based on the book of the same title by author Jon Ronson, an account of the investigation by Ronson and John Sergeant^[3] into attempts by US military forces to use psychic powers.^[4]

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Differences from the book 4 Controversy 5 Reception 6 DVD release 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Plot

The film follows Ann Arbor Daily Telegram reporter Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor), who one day interviews Gus Lacey (Stephen Root), a man who claims to have psychic abilities. Bob shrugs Lacey off as crazy. Soon after, Bob's wife leaves him for his editor. Bob, out of anger, flies to Kuwait to report on the Iraq War. However, he stumbles onto the story of a lifetime when he meets retired Special Forces operator, Lyn Cassady (George Clooney). Lyn reveals that he was part of an American army unit training psychic spies (or "Jedi Warriors"), trained to develop a range of parapsychological skills including invisibility, remote viewing, cloud bursting, walking through walls, and intuition. The back story is told mainly through flashbacks.

In 1972, U.S. Army officer Bill Django (Jeff Bridges) accidentally fell out of a UH-1 Iroquois "Huey" helicopter in the Binh Duong province of Vietnam, landing in a muddy field. Django was okay but his M-16A1 rifle jammed. The rest of Bill's unit lands, and they soon notice in front of their position is a pile of dead American troops. His men look at them aghast, and a soldier next to Django opens fire, yelling wildly. Suddenly, the enemy opens fire on them, shooting a soldier to Django's left. Django looks around and notices no one is returning fire when a lone Viet Cong soldier runs across the field in front of their position. He then yells at his troops to open fire. As they open fire, Django notices every soldier aims high, missing the enemy soldier. Apparently, they instinctively had not wanted to kill another human being. Django would later come across a study that stated only 15-20% of fresh soldiers shot to kill. The rest purposely missed, didn't fire at all, or pretended to be busy doing something else. The Viet Cong then fires at Django, hitting him in the chest. A medic quickly attends to him. As he lay there wounded, the Viet Cong (who was a woman) appeared before him in a vision and said "their gentleness is their strength."

While in a military hospital, Django decides to conduct a fact finding mission to explore alternative combat tactics, and the military agrees to finance him. He winds up in California for six years, and is shown "studying" various human potential movements: Naked Hot Tub Encounter Sessions, in Santa Rosa; Primal Arm-Wrestling, in Sacramento; the Beyond Jogging Movement, in Stockton; Higher Essence Colonic Irrigation Therapy, in Monterey; and The Whole Man Movement, in Auburn. In 1980, Django is shown entering Fort Bragg, with long braided hair and a third eye painted on his forehead.

Django is soon shown recruiting or even converting high-ranking Army officers to his cause. He is then shown receiving and training members of his new unit, the New Earth Army. Two of Django's best recruits were Lyn Cassady and Larry Hooper (Kevin Spacey), who developed a lifelong rivalry because of their opposing views of how to implement the New Earth Army philosophy; Lyn wanted to emphasize the positive side of the teachings, whereas Larry was more interested in the dark side of the philosophy. Cassady was brought to the unit via General Hopgood when he crashes several Air Force computers at Area 51 in Nevada, and Hooper was brought to the unit through General Hopgood when Hooper bends Hopgood's fork at a party.

In the early 2000s Bob and Lyn embark on a new mission in Iraq, where they are kidnapped by a criminal gang. They escape with fellow kidnapping victim Mahmud Daash (Waleed Zuaiter) and get rescued by a private security firm led by Todd Nixon (Robert Patrick), in charge of the Army Small Business Office, but get caught up in a firefight between Todd's security firm and a rival security firm; this would later be known as the "Battle of Ramadi." Mahmud, Bob and Lyn escape from the firefight and go to Mahmud's house, which has been shot up by soldiers. From there Bob and Lyn leave to continue on Lyn's vague mission involving a vision he had of Bill Django.

After their car hits an IED, Bob and Lyn wander in the desert where Lyn reveals a terrible secret to Bob: Lyn was asked to stop a goat's heart to test the limit of his mental abilities. Lyn had decided against it, but was compelled to try to accomplish the feat and stared at the goat intently. Lyn managed to stop the goat's heart, but felt that what he did was inhumane and against the entire purpose of the New Earth Army. Lyn left the Army, believing that he and the other New Earth soldiers were cursed and his powers were gone because of that fateful episode. After spending a few days in the desert, Bob and Lyn get rescued and rehabilitated at a camp run by PSIC, a private research firm engaged in psychological and psychic experiments on a herd of goats and some captured locals. To Lyn's dismay, Larry Hooper runs the firm and employs a now depressed and alcoholic Django.

Bob spends time with Django and learns the ways of the New Earth Army and together they spike the water and food of the base with LSD and free both the goats and captured locals. Following this, Lyn and Django fly off in a helicopter, but not before trusting Bob with the duty of making sure his story reaches the public. Bob reveals that neither Lyn nor Django were ever heard from again, believed to have crashed their helicopter.

Bob returns to work as a reporter and writes an article about his entire experience with Lyn. However, the only portion of the story to be aired on the news was how the captives were forced to repeatedly listen to the Barney & Friends theme song. This part of the story was treated as a joke, and Bob vows to continue trying to get the story out. In the film's final scene, Bob exercises his own psychic abilities and runs through a solid wall in his office.

[edit] Cast

• George Clooney as Lyn Cassady, is a combination of several real-life psychic spies, elements of his character are primarily based on Glenn Wheaton, additionally he has background details that match that of Guy Savelli, the man who claims to have killed a goat by staring at it down, and now runs a dance studio just as Lyn does in the movie. Also some of Lyn's actions in the movie echo Peter Brusso's interactions with Jon Ronson, particularly the Predator scene, and the "attack me" scene.^[5]
• Ewan McGregor as Bob Wilton, apparently inspired by Jon Ronson, the investigative journalist who uncovers the bizarre truth. .^[6]
• Jeff Bridges as Bill Django, based on Jim Channon who spent two years in the 1970s investigating new age movements, and subsequently wrote an operations manual for a First Earth Battalion.^[6]
• Kevin Spacey as Larry Hooper; an apparent original creation for the movie, represents the dark side of the New Earth Army and wishes to use the non-lethal technologies in harmful ways and the main antagonist of the film.^[6]
• Robert Patrick as Todd Nixon, an original character heading up a unit of a private security firm work in the post-invasion Iraq.
• Stephen Lang as General Hopgood, who is based on Major General Albert Stubblebine III, and firmly believes people can walk through walls.^[7]
• Stephen Root as Gus Lacey, who introduces Bob to the concepts of the New Earth Army; also somewhat based on Guy Savelli.
• Rebecca Mader as Debora Wilton, Bob's estranged wife; an original character.^[7]
• Glenn Morshower as Major Jim Holtz; a more by-the-book soldier.

[edit] Differences from the book

The movie is very different from the book: the book is essentially sixteen separate chapters whose only link is their connection to the use of unusual approaches that the army and intelligence services have used, whereas the movie has a linear plot. Both the book and movie start with a general's attempt to walk through a wall (General Hopgood in the movie, and Major General Albert Stubblebine III in the book). The book then chronicles how Uri Geller got Jon Ronson interested in the idea of the goat labs. Real-life Guy Savelli in the movie becomes both Gus Lacey (Stephen Root) and George Clooney's character, Lyn Cassady. Lyn also has characteristics of Peter Brusso, particularly his use of the Predator.

[edit] Controversy

The film is inspired by British journalist Jon Ronson's book, which was accompanied by 2004 Channel 4 three-part documentary Crazy Rulers of the World. In turn, Ronson had dedicated his book to journalist and filmmaker John Sergeant, who worked intensely through 2003 and 2004 on the original documentary. However, Sergeant has complained he has not received any credit for his part in formulating what was the inspiration for the movie.^[8][3]

John Sergeant's version of events is corroborated by a number of sources: the book The Men Who Stare at Goats itself is dedicated to John Sergeant, and the afterword states: "John's research and guidance can be found on every page". Further, Colonel John Alexander - one of the leaders of the story - has written to Sergeant: "If you want support for your position, tell reporters (or lawyers) to contact me. You were definitely the key person in developing the whole Goats project."^[9]

[edit] Reception

The film received mixed reviews from film critics. Review website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 53% of 183 critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 5.7 out of 10. The site's general consensus is that "Though The Men Who Stare at Goats is a mostly entertaining, farcical glimpse of men at war, some may find its satire and dark humor less than edgy."^[10] Among Rotten Tomatoes' "Top Critics", which consists of popular and notable critics from the top newspapers, websites, television and radio programs, the film holds an overall approval rating of 41%, based on a sample of 31 reviews.^[11] Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from film critics, has a rating score of 54 based on 33 reviews.^[12] George Clooney's performance was received very positively with the following comments from the Irish Times: "Clooney shines in this remarkable story, based on actual events...Clooney is now pretty much the sole bearer of the 'classic movie star' tag, and once again, he injects a performance with a Coen Brothers level of quirky. His twitches, his more ponderous moments; you buy this character because it's Clooney, and he's exceptional here."^[13]

[edit] DVD release

The Men Who Stare At Goats was released on DVD and Blu-ray in Region 1 on March 23, 2010,^[14] and was released in Region 2 on 19 April 2010.^[15] The extras include:

• Goats Declassified: The Real Men of the First Earth Battalion
• Project “Hollywood”: A Classified Report from the Set
• Audio Commentaries
• Character Bios
• Deleted Scenes

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: The Men Who Stare at Goats

• Official website
• The Men Who Stare at Goats at Allmovie
• The Men Who Stare at Goats at Box Office Mojo
• The Men Who Stare at Goats at the Internet Movie Database
• The Men Who Stare at Goats at Metacritic
• The Men Who Stare at Goats at Rotten Tomatoes

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