Bombshell – Uneven But Brilliantly Performed (Early Review)

Bombshell is a bit of an enigma. Expectations were high for this political drama, which joins its Oscar nominated ilk of Vice, The Post, Spotlight, etc – and though it truly delivers in some aspects, it falls very short in others.

To start with the many positives, Bombshell‘s script is well written. It’s pace is perfect, the running time of just under two hours keeps the audience’s attention, and the dialogue is rich, full of emotion and power, and changes from character to character, something many scripts get incorrect. People talk in very specific ways, each person with their own dialect, their own cadence and vocabulary. This film understands that, and uses it to its advantage. In a film based on, and featuring dramatizations of real-life people, it could become distracting very easily, but it allows them to feel human, not like caricatures.

In addition, Bombshell‘s use of archival footage was well integrated, even if the reverse shots of actors looked a little forced at times. It is hard to tell whether this is due to the uncanny nature of seeing someone else’s face in a familiar shot, or due to poor work on the DP’s part. In any case, it was really interesting to see the real world, and real world political figures become a part of this world.

The best part of Bombshell, however, are the powerhouse performances at its core. Though Kidman really plays a slightly altered version of herself, really bringing nothing too new to her performance as Gretchen Carlson, Robbie and Theron truly shine as Kayla Pospisil and Megyn Kelly respectively. Through forced smiles and choked back tears, Robbie delivers one of her best performances, in a year where she has already outdone herself with her work as Sharon Tate in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. It is quite possible we will see Robbie nominated twice in the same category this year come awards season which will absolutely be deserved. Her physicality changes so greatly with each new character she plays, her vocal and facial characterization moving so humanly and naturally that she wins over the audience almost instantly.

However, Theron is the true star of Bombshell, delivering quite possibly one of her greatest performances to date. Kelly is a formidable person to portray and one that was on screens for years. To portray her convincingly Theron definitely had her work cut out for her. She manages to absolutely transform into the role, vocally, physically and in every other way possible, enough to forget it was Charlize Theron at times. In addition to this chameleonic transformation, she puts in an emotionally resonant turn, with layers upon layers of depth that are stripped back as the film comes to its tense conclusion.

Unfortunately, Bombshell suffers when it came to its tone and direction. While the script of the film shines in its dialogue and pace, the tone is all over the place. The film starts in a very interesting way before seemingly giving up fairly quickly, going back to it a few more times over the remainder of the film, making it very distracting, and confusing to follow. Meanwhile, the direction was very flat and confusing. Using shaky camera and sporadic zooms peppered in to make it feel “real”, it then forgets this technique and looks normal for several stretches as well. The erratic camera movements serve nothing more than to jar the audience out of the illusion of the film. As a whole, the film just seemed too scared to ever pick a unique tone, or a style of its own. Trying to feel “real”, but not too “real” it falls in between the cracks and has trouble existing in its own space.

At the end of the day, Bombshell is a wonderfully written and expertly acted picture though with sub-par direction and a tone that varies wildly from scene to scene. Nevertheless, it will certainly be a big player this award season, somewhat deservedly, so is still definitely worth checking out.

Guest Writer