I went to see Charlie Wilson's War last night. I had mixed feelings about the movie going in as you recall. Unfortunately, my suspicions were confirmed. The movie was a dud (with the exception of Philip Seymour Hoffman). Wait for video. Or better yet, just read the book.The film ends with one of Wilson's quotes: "All these things happened, and they were glorious...and then we f*cked up the endgame." Wilson, of course, was referring to the mess that Afghanistan became after the Soviets left and US funding dried up. The quote could also refer to the book's adaptation into film.
It is very rare for a movie to match the quality of the book it is based on. I wasn't expecting that this film would be able to match the book, but I still felt let down. Timing in at 97 minutes, the film was lacking. It could have been a bit longer to really expand on the storyline and demonstrate how the blowback from the Afghan campaign relates to some of the things the world is dealing with today.
I also felt that the Stinger missile should have been a bigger part of the film. It is essentially a character in the book - the entire story is the search for the "silver bullet" to bring down the Soviet Hind helicopter. The film dedicates about 5 minutes to the creation of the Stinger and then shows a montage of helicopters exploding. Just plain weak.
The best (or worst) was the 2 mujahaddin who first shoot down a helicopter. For two guys who were supposed to be hiding out in the mountains for months on end, these two clean-cut dudes looked like they just strolled out of the costume department at Universal and onto the set.
So, the moral of the story is to spend your 10 books on the book instead:
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