The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009)
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A journalist travels to the Iraq War and uncovers a bizarre military program involving psychic spies and New Age philosophies.
The story
After his wife leaves him, reporter Bob Wilton travels to Kuwait to cover the Iraq War. There, he meets Lyn Cassady, a retired Special Forces operator who claims to have been part of the 'New Earth Army,' a unit that trained 'psychic' spies in skills like invisibility and remote viewing. Lyn takes Bob into the heart of the conflict to investigate the origins of these parapsychological abilities. Their journey leads them to discover the bizarre intersection of military operations and New Age movements, as they seek to uncover the truth behind the government's pursuit of psychic weaponry.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
The film begins with a brief scene of General Dean Hopgood attempting to walk through a wall. In the present, reporter Bob Wilton travels to Kuwait to cover the Iraq War after his wife leaves him. He meets Lyn Cassady, a former 'New Earth Army' operator who claims the unit trained psychic spies. Lyn recounts how the unit was founded in 1972 by Bill Django, who sought to make soldiers more 'gentle' after a vision in Vietnam. Django led training in California involving New Age activities before returning to Fort Bragg in 1980. Lyn and his rival, Larry Hooper, were his top students; while Lyn favored peaceful resolution, Larry sought the 'dark side' of psychic application. Bob and Lyn are eventually kidnapped and rescued by a private security detail, but their car is disabled by an IED. They are taken to a camp run by PSIC, a firm conducting cruel psychic experiments on locals and goats. Lyn discovers Larry runs the firm and employs a depressed Django. To break the 'curse' of their experiments, Bob and Lyn spike the base's food with LSD, free the captives, and Lyn and Django escape in a helicopter. Back home, Bob's story is reduced to a joke in the media, but he ends the film by seemingly walking through a wall.
- First release year
- 2009
- Runtime (minutes)
- 94
- Production countries
- United States; United Kingdom
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Grant Heslov
- Writers
- Peter Straughan · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- George Clooney · Lyn Cassady; Jeff Bridges · Bill Django; Ewan McGregor · Bob Wilton; Kevin Spacey · Larry Hooper; Robert Patrick · Todd Nixon; Stephen Lang · Major General Dean Hopgood; Stephen Root · Gus Lacey; Glenn Morshower · Major Jim Holtz
- Genres
- satirical black comedy; war film
- Themes
- Paranormal warfare; New Age movements; Military ethics; Journalism
- Tone and mood
- Satirical; Black comedy; Farcical
- Premise and plot tags
- Based on a book; Based on non-fiction; Iraq War; Paranormal
- Source material / true-story basis
- 2004 book by Jon Ronson
- Reception
- The film received mixed reviews from critics, with a 51% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a weighted average of 54 on Metacritic. Audiences gave it a 'C+' on CinemaScore. George Clooney's performance was very positively received.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 5.8/10 · scale: 10 · review count: 216; Metacritic · score: 54 · scale: 100 · review count: 33
- Production trivia
- The film is inspired by British journalist Jon Ronson's book, which was accompanied by the 2004 television documentary Crazy Rulers of the World.; The extras include 'Goats Declassified: The Real Men of the First Earth Battalion'.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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