DRONE – Review

A few weeks before movie goers are immersed in Christopher Nolan’s recreation of one of the greatest World War II battles with DUNKIRK, and a few days before a certain Amazonian princess and her sisters join the fight in the previous world war, this new film takes a look at modern warfare. Much as with the recent films like 2014’s GOOD KILL and last year’s critically lauded EYE IN THE SKY, this new work focuses on a way of combat that’s, for want of a better word, impersonal. You don’t have to breathe in the same air as your enemy, you don’t ever have to set foot on the battlefield. You can sit in an air-conditioned office or cubicle, sip a cool drink while watching a near silent video transmission on your monitor. Killing is much more civilized (?), when you’re pushing a few buttons and command a DRONE. There’s no blood literally on your hands, just a risk of carpel tunnel.

This story starts a year ago in a bustling crowded city in Pakistan. A man enjoys a modest meal with his mother, wife and teenage son before heading away to work. He bids them good day and walks outside to his motorcycle (more of a scooter). As he sits, two women stroll pass, and before he starts the motor, death rains from the sky. The flames shoot through the kitchen window, searing the wife as she waves to him. Cut to today, suburban Washington state, USA. Neil Wistin (Sean Bean) has a lot on his mind as he readies himself for work. He’s tasked with writing a eulogy for his recently departed father. His sixteen year-old son Shane (Maxwell Haynes) is distant. Wife Ellen (Mary McCormack) is of little help. Plus Neil has to sell pop’s old sailboat, which is taking up most of his driveway. As Ellen leaves for her college teaching job in her own vehicle, a car follows her. After dropping off Shane at the high school, Neil heads to his “I.T.” job. But Ellen has a detour to work. She has a brief romantic tryst with another faculty member. As they exchange goodbye kisses in the parking garage, that car is lurking nearby. We then find out the nature of Neil’s real job. He’s part of a company hired by the CIA to man drone planes. We see him and his co-worker Gary (Joel David Moore) track and fire on a “hostile target” (Pakistan again). Cut to soft-spoken Imir Shaw (Patrick Sabongui) reading at a picnic table as children play in the park. An irate father tells him to vacate just as Imir notices two men in a car watching him. After work Neil meets his estranged brother at their father’s old nursing home. While packing his things, Neil notices a newsletter with a photo of his dad and son on the cover (Shane had visited ‘Gramps’ a lot). Driving home, Neil hears of an NSA security breach on the radio. Upon arrival, he’s back at his laptop, struggling with the eulogy. He hears something outside. Someone’s looking over the boat. Imir introduces himself to Neil. Is he really a prospective buyer, or are the events of the day somehow connected?

Bean, best known as a swashbuckling hero in TV and film, gets to show his acting range with his take on an average American “Joe”, albeit one that’s hiding a dark, dark secret. With his unkempt hair and clumsy manner, Neil is trying hard to show the world that all is normal, while he slowly unravels, knocking back a few too many beers and too much wine at dinner. McCormack as Ellen is working at keeping up appearances also, playing the dutiful wife and mother while juggling an affair that twists her in too many directions. Masking his emotions seems to be the usual demeanor for Haynes as their son Shane, still stinging from the loss of a grandfather he respects and perhaps loves more than his own papa. And then an outside element is thrown into this repressed, but still volatile mix with Sabongui as the ethereal Imir. He’s a tad jittery, nervous about hiding his true purposes. He avoids an altercation at the park, only to spring into action mode, when cornered. Soon after their first meeting, Imir is almost a therapist for Neil, helping him deal with his family loss. But later, he’s exposing this “happy family” . a real embodiment of the “chickens coming home to roost” adage.

Director Jason Bourque attempts to organize several ongoing narrative threads that never really merge. The script he worked on with three other writers wants to be an “edge of your seat” thriller, political “message”, and family drama. Subplots (Ellen’s affair, the Shane/Grandfather secret, Neil’s strained ties to his brother) are left dangling in the wind. Even the big showdown, the suspenseful meeting of Neil and Imir is undercut by sluggish pacing as they engage in a long meandering “dance” to the big reveal. And what of this whole dour atmosphere? Seeing the Canadian production credits, I wondered if this was a commentary on the US from its Northern neighbors. Maybe many their think they live above lots of violent repressed bigots (I hope they think we’re a bit better than these characters). The casual racial slur Neil’s co-worker Gary spews after finishing a “job”, then the Islamaphobic threats to Imir at the park contribute to this tone. There’s another unresolved story bit about a shooting at Shane’s school, so we can seem walk past a flower memorial before getting “wanded”by security. Again, no follow-through. But this is all a build-up to a final denouncement and “twist” ending that’s no real surprise to anyone. DRONE has a lot to say about the consequences of this brand of “clean” warfare, but it fumbles the final drop of its dramatic “payload”. Target missed.

2 Out of 5