A political consultant (Ryan Gosling) has an affair with an intern (Evan Rachel Wood) and ends up on the wrong side of his boss (Philip Seymour Hoffman) after clandestinely meeting with their chief rival’s most trusted advisor (Paul Giamatti). He also inadvertently learns some damning information about the presidential candidate (George Clooney) he once revered, challenging all his preconceived notions and potentially leading him down a dark, vindictive path he never thought he’d be treading upon.

CRITIQUE

Here’s what I originally wrote about this one last year:

“The amount of cynicism on display in director, co-writer and star George Clooney’s latest enterprise The Ides of March is without measure. Like The Best Man, like The Candidate, heck, even like The Manchurian Candidate, this story of an idealistic staffer working on the staff of a Democratic Party Presidential hopeful doesn’t take any prisoners and doesn’t cut anyone, liberal or conservative, red or blue, an ounce of slack. It has disdain for the process, showing the inherent hypocrisy living inside the political system and the corruptive influence it can have on the lives and mores of seeming innocents caught up within its withering whirlpools of self-aggrandizement.

At the same time, based on the acclaimed play Farragut North written by Beau Willimon, the icy cold nature of so much of what is going on almost can’t help but leave the viewer at something of a distance. The movie has a clinical glare that borders on the overwhelming, and while Clooney and company cut a razor-sharp acidic swath the emotions it welled up within me were more ones of relative bemusement than they were anything else. While the movie doesn’t necessarily do anything wrong, per se, the forgone nature of it all is somewhat disenchanting, the constant pounding of the 24-hour cable news three-ring circus somewhat diluting the film’s ultimate impact.

Yet there is value here, lots of it, The Ides of March in most respects easily Clooney’s best effort behind the camera since his masterful Good Night, and Good Luck. This is as intelligently structured, and intimately layered and as exquisitely acted a motion picture as any we have seen this year, everything about it reeking of class and precision. Not once did I feel bored or led astray as I was sitting there watching this one, the movie concluding with a dynamite image that is as haunting as it is prescient.

Additionally, the movie once again showcases the mesmerizing talents of star Ryan Gosling. If any man is having a better 2011 than he I’m not sure who it would be, for like in Crazy, Stupid, Love, like in Drive, the man dominates the film in a way that borders on the transcendent. He’s Stephen Meyers, second to campaign manager Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and trusted aid to Governor Mike Morris (Clooney), so sure of his candidate’s perfection when cracks in façade begin to show the shattering effect they have upon him hurt like no tomorrow. Gosling makes this man crumble, makes this man bleed, makes him rise from the ashes and becomes something feral, almost unthinkable, his Phoenix-like rebirth a political parable indicative of everything many feel is wrong with the democratic process as it now stands.

But everyone here is good, especially Evan Rachel Wood as a sexy young intern whose feminine wiles cast a far bigger spell than the one Meyers has enveloping him. Her journey is equally as devastating, and how it moves things forward, rushing proceedings towards their almost inevitable conclusion, is emotionally striking to say the least. This is the best the young starlet has ever been and hints at the kind of performances we can hopefully expect from her in the future, the promise tantalizingly glimpsed in films as diverse as The Missing, The Wrestler and Thirteen gloriously come to fruition.

So what’s the problem? There really aren’t any, save for the fact Clooney and company are so driven to be as clinical and as impartial as possible the impact of all this wheeling, dealing and underhanded Machiavellian finagling can’t help but be lessened because of it. Yet The Ides of March is so well made, so perfectly acted and delivers so many nerve-wracking moments of intelligent suspense it almost can’t help but be worthwhile, and let the record show I’m voting in favor of seeing it, maybe more than once.”

Stripped of the weight of expectation, The Ides of March plays exceedingly well the second and third time around. The performances jump off the screen a bit more, especially Wood’s and Gosling’s, while Clooney’s subtle work is far more complex and nuanced than I originally gave him credit for. Still not a great effort, but it is a very, very, very good one, and a movie I’m fairly certain I’ll be revisiting again quite soon.

THE VIDEO

The Ides of March presented on a dual-layer 50GB Blu-ray MPEG-4 AVC Video with a 1080p 2.40:1 transfer.

THE AUDIO

The Ides of March comes to Blu-ray in English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and includes optional English SDH and Spanish subtitles.

THE EXTRAS

Extras here include:

·         Audio Commentary with actor/director/producer George Clooney and writer/producer Grant Heslov – Typically solid Clooney/Heslov track that is as amusing, and as funny, as it is insightful and informative.

·         Developing the Campaign: The Origin of The Ides of March (7:08) – Too-short making-of featurette that’s nowhere near as extensive as I wanted it to be.

·         Believe: George Clooney (6:19) – Very nice short on Clooney featuring interviews with the cast and the man himself as they talk about his directorial style and the difficulties of handling a motion picture as thematically complex as this one.

·         On the Campaign: The Cast of The Ides of March (5:49) – More interviews with the cast, this one focusing on their characters and their respective approaches to them during filming.

·         What Does a Political Consultant Do? (7:29) – The disc’s best extra next to the commentary track, or, at least it’s most important, this one focuses on political consultant Stuart Stevens and what exactly it is that those in his profession do for a living. Definitely gives the viewer greater insights into a few of the characters here, while also getting you to lament a bit that these sort of folks have become so important to modern day political campaigns.

This disc also comes Ultraviolet and BD Live Enabled and features a selection of previews for various upcoming Sony releases.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The Ides of March is an exceptional political drama filled with nuance offering up outstanding performances from its entire ensemble cast. Sony’s Blu-ray may be lax in regards to special features but on a technical level it’s rather incredible.