First Take: The Post- insert political statement about the press here

SYNOPSIS:

A cover-up that spanned four U.S. Presidents pushed the country’s first female newspaper publisher and a hard-driving editor to join an unprecedented battle between the press and the government.

And here we have the first of two films this year from Steven Spielberg. The timing of this one couldn’t have been better, as the story is so topical yet the performances are Oscar-worthy to a degree that only a master of the art of filmmaking can command.

I don’t really need to say much about Spielberg’s direction, it’s on form as you’d expect for a filmmaker of his calibre, and he’s able to pace it in a way that makes the 1 hour 56 minute runtime feel interesting and bold- an incredible feat considering that this film was made in less than a year. The main issue for me was Josh Singer and Liz Hannah’s script, as it has both dialogue that is good, and a little too much expositionary speech for something of this type, but aside from that, Janusz Kaminski’s cinematography is excellent, and John Williams once again provides a good score to soundtrack the action of the saga that eventually resulted in Watergate.

Performance wise, all I have to say is Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep. Two icons of the big screen, sharing the spotlight together for the VERY FIRST TIME. And they are both fantastic, with Streep putting in her obligatory piece of outstanding work for the awards season alongside Spielberg veteran Hanks, and with a supporting cast that includes Breaking Bad’s Bob Odenkirk, Alison Brie, Sarah Paulson and many more, this may not be the perfect awards film, but given the current political climate, this film will arguably attract the attention of Oscar voters when the nominations are announced on Tuesday.

THE VERDICT

Telling a very topical tale about press freedom, The Post tackles the heavy subject of the Pentagon Papers very well, and while it may stumble with some clunky dialogue, it’s another home run for Spielberg ahead of the long awaited release of his adaptation of Ready Player One.

RATING: 4/5