In spite of pretty bad reviews from major film critics, the movie, in my opinion, was kind of refreshing. Many people compared it to Emilio Estevez's Bobby from 2006, but they are really apples and oranges.
It's pure fate that the team of residents and the head nurse from the Parkland Hospital had to have the dying President on their watch. In spite of the traumatic experience and the best rescuing efforts they had given, JFK still passed away in a pool of blood. I've never seen a resident doctor as good looking as Zac Efron, but the entire hospital team gave a credible performance. I've always been a fan of award-winning actor Marcia Gay Harden, who played the role of Parkland's head nurse. I also had the good fortune of recently meeting her in a New York hotel elevator where I've had a two-minute conversation about filming in Toronto with her. She has always been an intense actor, but in this movie, she hardly spoke more than five sentences in the emergency room.
Nobody has ever liked the FBI or Secret Service agents, and in this movie, both teams were portrayed as brutally selfish. The former was concerned only about destroying evidence to cover their asses, and Billy Bob Thornton, who skillfully played the stoic role of the head of Secret Service, Forrest Sorrels, was frustrated only because JFK was the first man he's ever lost on his 30-year watch.
The entire Oswald family was as creepy as the alleged assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, himself. James Badge Dale, who was one of the villains in Iron Man 3, played the role of Robert Oswald, Lee Harvey's brother. It's obvious that he was never close to his brother, but blood is thicker than water. Award-winning actor Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook) played the Oswald brothers' mother Marguerite, who was portrayed almost as insane as his murdered son. It's true that nobody can conclude, for sure, even to this day that Lee Harvey Oswald was either a U.S. agent who got framed or a Russian agent who was hired to assassinate the President.
As usual, the media love Paul Giamatti who was described by the film critics as the only laudable character (Abraham Zapruder) and actor in the entire movie. This is not a difficult role for Giamatti having seen him in more challenging roles such as Barney's Version and Sideways.
Director Peter Landesman is very much a novice as this was his directorial debut. But given the fact that he adapted the story from Vincent Bugliosi's book Four Days In November and his strong editing work between real footage of the assassination and the fake scenes, he has demonstrated enough potential to carry on with his directing pursuit.
No matter what perspective the film took, one fact remains inarguable - the impact of JFK's death was so huge and overwhelming on all Americans that they will remember his tragedy and legacy to this day and for 50 more years to come!
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