MOVIE REVIEW - The Conspirator

The new Robert Redford movie, The Conspirator is new in theaters this week.

TC, is the true story of the military trial of the surviving defendants of the Abraham Lincoln assassination in 1865. Of course we know that John Wilkes Boothe was the trigger man in the killing of the President. But there were conspirators that aided and planned this with him. After the assassination, Boothe is killed and is never brought to trial. But 6 men, and a woman, Mary Surratt are. This is the story essentially her trial story, as her lawyer risks everything he owns to ensure she will get a fair trail.

Sometimes these kind of movies are tough to review. The expectations are high, the project is noble, the cast is big and it's Redford at the controls. TC has the typical Redford look. Redford movies always seem to have a "pretty" look to them. Wonderfully filmed in fantastic sets, with painstaking thought and effort put into each and every shot. Redford, like Clint Eastwood, always seems to get the most from his young actors too, and that's the case here. I am good with most things in this movie.

As good as much of this is, there just seems to be something missing that doesn't allow you this movie to be really great. It's true that the story is new to most of us, and that's great. But there are some draggy sequences that slow the story line down a few times. A couple times almost to a halt. There is nothing really wrong with this movie, it just lacks a certain snap that holds it back a bit.

A big cast includes, James McAvoy, Robin Wright, Kevin Kline, Justin Long, Alexis Bledel and Tom Wilkinson. All well cast and deliver nice performances. Costuming is wonderful as you might expect too.

The Conspirator is great on look, and good on story. But as good as it is, I think I was expecting great.