Director: Peter Landesman
Starring: Zac Efron, Billy Bob Thornton, Paul Giamatti, James Badge Dale, Tom Welling, Jackie Earle Haley
Running Time: 94 Minutes
Certificate: 15
With all the hype surrounding the 50th anniversary of DOCTOR WHO last year, you could be forgiven for forgetting that it was actually the 50th year since one of the most notorious assassinations in history…the murder of JFK.
PARKLAND: THE JFK ASSASSINATION STORY was produced in tribute of the infamous event that resulted in the death of one of America’s greatest leaders. The film has some impressive talent attached to it including a producing credit from none other than Tom Hanks, and a whole cast full of star-studded household names. PARKLAND isn’t the greatest film in the world but it certainly is ambitious and tells an intriguingly original version of history we had not previously seen, which is definitely refreshing for a story that has been told for fifty years. The film begins shortly before JFK’s assassination and within minutes we are thrust into the intense and frantic panic that struck immediately after the shocking murder.
While this sequence is nothing we haven’t seen before, the use of real footage from the day of the assassination is inspired and also beautifully inserted into the film with almost seamless transitions. This is of course helped by the shaky, documentary style of film making that Peter Landesman has employed to bring this fifty year old tale to life (again). The majority of PARKLAND takes place in the immediate aftermath of JFK’s assassination, with a great deal of time spent exploring the futile attempts made to resuscitate the US president. This is easily the most exciting part of the film, with a surprising amount of blood and gore shown in the incredibly graphic and detailed re-creation of Kennedy’s attempted resurrection. Sadly however, this is where the film (unfortunately) peaks and winds down from this point until it becomes incredibly slow and tedious.
Despite the films slow pace following the incident itself, there is a larger overall problem with PARKLAND. Perhaps the film’s greatest crime of all can be found within its characters. Not only is the screen time between each character poorly divided but some of the films fantastically talented cast members are criminally underused sometimes just forgotten about. Paul Giamatti is as charismatic as ever and gives a brilliantly convincing performance despite his sparse screen time. However the usually outstanding Billy Bob Thornton is limited to boring, unimaginative dialogue and unfortunately comes across about as three dimensional as a piece of cardboard. Zac Efron is clearly giving his absolute best performance here too but even his (annoyingly un-noticed) acting talent can’t quite disguise the fact that he was mis-cast for the part and the script certainly doesn’t help him at all. On a positive note it is wonderful to see Tom Welling once again, after the former Clark Kent seemingly disappeared when SMALLVILLE ended its decade-long run in 2011. Welling is surprisingly given some of the best material in the film with quite a few chunks of dramatic, meaty dialogue for the actor to sink his teeth into.
The real stand out performance of PARKLAND is easily James Badge Dale as Robert Edward Lee Oswald, Jr., the confused and heavily downtrodden brother of the president’s killer. Dale gives a heartfelt and sympathetic performance as Lee Oswald Jr., and to be perfectly honest it’s difficult at times not to shed a tear for his unfortunate and tragic situation. One sequence in particular that displays the power and emotional range of Dale in the role, comes at the end of the film when he is left as the only man willing to bury his dead brother at the funeral of Kennedy’s killer. The score performed by the always-brilliant James Newton Howard is arguably the most poignant and beautiful element of the entire film. Newton’s intense soundtrack captures the passion and emotion that the script desires so strongly in a tear-jerking piece of music that perfectly compliments PARKLAND and actually improves it at times.
Overall, PARKLAND: THE JFK ASSASSINATION STORY clearly has its issues however there are a few hidden gems to be found if you’re willing to search hard enough. Although it does seem as if genuine passion and devotion went into the script, it doesn’t always come out in the same way, which is a shame for a film with such huge potential.
[usr=3] PARKLAND: THE JFK ASSASSINATION STORY is available on DVD now!.
