Good Kill

Dir: Andrew Niccol

2014

****

I find Andrew Niccol’s films to be rather hit and miss, while I always find his work to be refreshingly ambitious, some are better than others. Gattica is a modern classic and was my favorite of his until Good Kill came along. While 2014’s Good Kill is a little clumsy in places and isn’t as stylish as Gattica, it has a brilliant idea and a phenomenal script that make it one of the most important (and rather overlooked) films of the year. Everyone has a different opinion regarding UAVs and drone warfare but the brilliant thing about Niccol’s film is that it addresses both sides fairly by asking only the fundamental questions. While we see the film through one man’s experiences, all of the moral aspects – as well as the political – are addressed and explored. All of the ‘what ifs’ and ‘whys’ featured are relevant and timely, from the overall question of whether UAV warfare is right, to why the remote pilots still have to wear flight suits. It is a focused film, intelligent and never dumbed down for the audience. While it may feel like Niccol uses stereotypes in order to tell the story, I believe that a good cross-section of society’s views and beliefs are represented – and are represented fairly. The film stars Ethan Hawke and it is the third time the actor and director have worked together. Interestingly they seem to take a eight year gap between working with each other – I wonder whether this will continue. The story begins in 2010 and follows Major Thomas Egan (Hawke), an officer with the U.S. Air Force stationed at an Air Force Base just outside of Las Vegas. He is a former F-16 Falcon pilot, married, with two children who live with him in a suburban house off-base. His current assignment involves flying armed MQ-9 Reaper drones in foreign air space in support of the U.S. War on Terror. He is admired by his commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Jack Johns (Bruce Greenwood) and support staff for his calm demeanor, precise flying, and adaptability. Privately, he is concerned about the assignment, which he took after being informed there was reduced call for and increased competition for fighter pilots in the Air Force. His previous CO informed him that a tour flying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) would look good on his record and would increase his chances of being posted back to a flying assignment. Major Egan is a pilot through and through – he has a leather jacket, and old muscle car and he wears his mirrored sunglasses at all times. At first, the new assignment seems stressful but relatively benign. He is assigned to attack more clear-cut terrorist cells, vehicles, and facilities in Afghanistan. He flies these assignments during daylight hours over his targets, which is night-time in Las Vegas, leaving his days free for his sleep period, and to spend time with his wife and children. However, the high-tempo assignment – he is attacking targets on almost a daily basis – begins taking its toll. His wife notices the stress he's under and he begins drinking when off-duty. Still, his performance is excellent and his crew is rated among the highest in the squadron, so, on the orders of his commanding officer, he is assigned to more challenging missions under the direction of CIA controllers. Many of these targets are in Yemen and Somalia, places where the U.S. has no acknowledged military mission. The targets themselves are increasingly morally and legally ambiguous. The CIA controller calls the shots and orders hits on public buildings and crowds of people explaining that they are sleeping spots for high level terrorist leaders or factories for making explosives but without providing evidence for such. Collateral damage goes from being a rare occurrence to a routine one. On several occasions, the CIA controller orders strikes on obvious civilian targets – including women and children – describing these casualties as unfortunate but necessitated by terrorist leaders using them as human shields. The crew are torn, half are happy to follow orders and believe in the ‘hit them before they hit us’ while the other half believe they are part of a war crime. Egan's performance declines and his drinking intensifies. He narrowly avoids being arrested for drunk driving, and starts avoiding home commitments, not wanting to inflict the stress he's under on his wife. He relishes a rare over-watch assignment protecting U.S. troops as they sleep, but must break a promise to his wife in order to perform the mission. On another over-watch mission, the troops are killed by an improvised explosive device that Egan could not protect them from. After a stress-induced violent episode at home, Egan's wife demands to know the details of Egan's work, and Egan tells her about a particularly nasty episode where he was ordered to kill a group of people and to then follow their coffins to the funeral, only to strike the mourners during the ceremony. Soon after, she says she is leaving him and taking the children to Reno, Nevada, blaming his drinking and violent behavior. Finally, Egan cracks. His CIA controller orders a strike on a small group of civilians responding to a building Egan had previously destroyed. Rather than obey the order, Egan simulates a glitch in the UAV control system and the targets escape. His CO has no choice but to demote him away from the attack role into a surveillance one. While on a surveillance mission, Egan notices a man whom he had previously watched rape a woman several times approaching her home. His Mission Intelligence Coordinator had previously described this man as "a bad guy. But not our bad guy." Egan conspires to send his support staff on a break, then uses the surveillance UAV to attack and kill the rapist. He then leaves the base without orders and is seen driving away from Las Vegas toward Reno. It isn’t half as heavy-handed as it could have been, while the ending is weirdly positive, it also highlights other dangers UAVs bring. It is too easy to kill using UAVs, our ‘hero’ kills a bad guy knowing he’ll get away with it due to all the ‘off the record’ hits he’s made but it still doesn’t make his actions right. The film highlights the different levels of moral ambiguity brilliantly. The similarities of seeing areal shots of Las Vagas against the targeted shots of Yeman are also brilliantly conceived, especially when a character asks what would happen when ‘they’ get their hands on UAV technology. It has a haunting quality about it that says with you long after viewing, and 24 hours after watching I had a long list of questions I was asking myself. Behind some of the Top Gun visuals and stereotype characters there is a big question that lingers until you can’t ignore it. I think it is masterfully done. It’s brilliantly written and directed by Niccol and both Ethan Hawke and Bruce Greenwood both put in great performances, I still don’t see the point of January Jones but she is all that is wrong with this picture.