All the President's Men

Monday, April 21, 2008

I'm not a journalist, so I'm not going to bother to confirm this, but I bet that All the President's Men was a huge influence on David Fincher's Zodiac. Both films are essentially about a couple of guys going around asking questions and looking through files and compiling information, and yet somehow present this in a way that is entertaining and compelling. Even though you would expect this to be tedious, and nothing really "happens" for a lot of the movie besides people doing research. Also, large chunks of both movies take place in a newsroom.

I don't think it's as good as Zodiac... it's not much more than a good yarn, lacking any real insight or meaning. But it's a damn good yarn, complex but clear, dense but fun. My biggest complaint is that since we already know how it turns out, there isn't much suspense, and then the ending feels oddly anticlimactic. It's kinda weird that Zodiac, which is a slightly longer movie, with a deliberately unsatisfying, non-definitive ending (they never figure out who the killer is for sure), feels way more dramatic and climactic than All the President's Men, which has a far more definitive ending where something is actually accomplished.

I was a little worried going in that this movie would be one of those ones that doesn't really have a point except to pat itself on the back for having an anti-Republican agenda. It's better than that, and doesn't shove its politics down your throat. In fact, I would say it's more about the politics of journalism than it is about the politics of our government. It's just an interesting story, worth telling and well told.