Despite being far from his best outings, Last Flag Flying is very much a Richard Linklater movie, and it bears all the defining traits of the director, from the focus on character-driven dialogue to the expert juxtaposition between humor and drama. The character interaction and their history suck you in and the movie feels much shorter than it is, which is a great accomplishment for the film, especially with it being as dialogue heavy as it is.
Bryan Cranston obviously got the more fun role to play, but I found the standout to be, as he often is these days, Steve Carell. The man is doing some exceptional work and just this year we've seen him in two completely different roles - this and as Bobby Riggs in Battle of the Sexes - and he has absolutely owned both of them.
Nate Parker's inexperience, but also his passion, really show in this sometimes powerful, but often boring and conventional movie. Sluggish pace, ugly desaturated color palette, generic writing and atrociously filmed and edited action scenes are all signs of a writer/director that has a lot of room for improvement. The character work was also lacking, with Parker asking the audience to care for a protagonist just because he's suffering, while not doing the hard work of actually presenting a likable lead. The religious justification and glorification of violence is also, though sometimes understandable, deeply troubling. The huge historical inaccuracies don't help either, and their connection with Parker's rape allegations are darkly ironic at best, and creepy at worst.
This said, there's good in here. This is a movie that counts on moments, and Parker really banks on those, and they mainly work, as do the performances. But in between them there's just a less gripping 12 Years a Slave.
I can understand people who love this movie, as I can understand who hates it. Personally, I'm in the middle of the road, but The Birth of a Nation certainly isn't the Oscar contender that Sundance would have us believe.
Brilliant black comedy. You laugh and instantly feel bad for doing so.
The satire is cutting and unfortunately always timely, even if not really handled with subtlety.
Highlight of the movie for me was Kayvan Novak's character, also a standout in What We Do in the Shadows.
