Review: Good Kill

Featuring another solid central performance by Ethan Hawke, Good Kill is a smart but unaffecting drama from writer/director Andrew Niccol. Focusing on drones and the combat pilots behind the controls is great fodder for an intense thriller. Unfortunately, much like American Sniper there is too much focus on the domestic drama.

The scenes at work are intense, gripping and filled with politically and morally charged ideas. The film is best in these scenes. The domestic drama portions strain the pacing and never add much to the impact of the film.

Hawke plays Tom Egan, a pilot who has been grounded and now flies drones in an air-conditioned box in Las Vegas. He is a man torn apart by having to be still in combat but not actually experiencing any of the fear from doing so. He is lost in the midst of his sense of duty and the need for feeling some genuine excitement.

One major selling point is the drone scenes. They are shot so realistically that you get the sense of being there in the box. Niccols thrives in these scenes, playing them for not only suspense but as ways to explore some moral questions regarding war. Good Kill is great in these moments.

When the film turns to the domestic side, Tom becomes less a troubled hero and more just a plain old asshole. January Jones does her Mad Men schtick as the wife who can't take it any more. The trouble here is none of it feels inspired. Niccol has so much to say about drone warfare and almost nothing new to say about domestic troubles.

Good Kill is a mixed film but the good scenes in it are memorable and stick with you well after the credits. The film raises some genuinely interesting and troubling ideas but is crippled by its B story involving domestic troubles.

3/5