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SGT. WILL GARDNER
Director: Max Martini Cast: Max Martini, Omari Hardwick, Lily Rabe, Robert Patrick, Elisabeth Röhm, Dermot Mulroney, Gary Sinise, Luis Bordonada, JoBeth Williams, Leo Martini MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 2:05 Release Date: 1/11/19 (limited) |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | January 10, 2019 There's a sense of determination, consistency, and soul to Max Martini's performance in Sgt. Will Gardner. The movie itself, which Martini wrote and directed, does not share those qualities. It's a mess of uncertain purpose, jarring tonal shifts, and melodramatic gimmickry. Martini's intentions are obviously pure, given the movie's coda, which details how and how many military veterans suffer upon returning home from combat. Intentions, though, don't mean much when the vehicle to get that point across is as broken as this. Martini plays the eponymous vet, nicknamed "Ghost," who has come back from war in the Middle East with a traumatic brain injury. After failing to find any consistent work, he decides to take a road trip on a motorcycle, stolen from a guy who short-changed him. Along the way, Will deals with the vision (or actual ghost) of a fallen comrade (played by Omari Hardwick), reunites with his ex-wife Kimmy (Elisabeth Röhm) and son (played by Leo Martini, the writer/director/star's own son), and has a series of awkward encounters with Mary-Anne (Lily Rabe), a woman on her own trip of self-discovery who mistakes Will for a famous actor. The most prominent error in thinking here is the insertion of Mary-Anne's character, whose personal story takes up far too much time, simply so that the movie can establish the laughably bad subplot about her case of mistaken identity (Since telling Will would end the gag and relationship quickly, Martini has to set up her back story in order for the audience to understand her thinking). It's telling that the character is dismissed without a second thought once the realization arrives, and it is, perhaps, even more telling that the revelation doesn't occur until the third act. This isn't to let the rest of Sgt. Will Gardner off the hook, though. Yes, the scenes with Mary-Anne destroy the attempt at a serious-minded examination of the physical and psychological effects of war on Will, but even that study feels hollow (many extended scenes of Will in private turmoil), over-simplified (plenty of statements about veterans dishonored by the system), and artificial (the talking vision/ghost). As for where this story leads, it's to a final note of fatalism, which goes against the movie's repeated insistence that people can achieve and be better than their circumstances. Copyright © 2019 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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