The Good

An interesting film that sheds light on a top secret government group that is quite amazing.

The Bad

Ultimately, this movie loses something at the end.Based on real life events this movie follows Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor). He is a reporter who comes across an experimental, completely classified group in the United States Army that was designed to change the way wars were waged. Instead of fighting with guns the group will fight with their minds using New Age psychic powers. They are called The New Earth Army and they engage in some very interesting techniques to take down the enemy.

As he researches this group, Wilton comes across Lyn Cassady (George Clooney) who says he was a part of The New Earth Army. He is amazing psychic abilities and Wilton decides to follow him in search of his story. Along the way he finds out that this group is filled with mind readers, people who can walk through walls, and even those who can stare at goats until they die. Ultimately, we see how this group was held back from becoming a military force and one will end their viewing experience by either believing what they've just seen... or not.

Features

Goats Declassified

In this interesting featurette we get to a look at the people upon which this movie is based. When I first saw the trailer for this film my first thought was that it had to be some kind of a joke. Then I watched the trailer with my friend's husband and he looked at me and said, "That's BS, right?" I told him as far as I knew it was based on a true story. We didn't say anything after that but I thought that he was probably right. So I saw the movie, then I rewatched it on Blu-ray and then I saw this featurette. Now, while I am sure that they embellished points here and there, this featurette is illuminating because it shows that the actual truth probably wasn't stretched as much as one might think it was.

Project Hollywood

Deleted Scenes

This Blu-ray disc has a decent amount of deleted scenes that seem to expand on some moments in the film. They aren't that amazing and when one considers that this movie is only 94 minutes, there is probably a solid reason for that. While none of these scenes really stood out in my mind, I was happy to at least have the option to scroll through these excised moments.

Commentary Tracks

Video

Widescreen Presentation - 2.35:1. 1080p. This movie looked pretty solid on Blu-ray D. It takes place in many locales and in many interior and exterior areas. This seemed to have a pretty consistent color scheme throughout. Director Grant Heslov and his Director of Photography Robert Elswit have done very credible work here. This movie doesn't have any amazing visuals or vision behind it, but what it does have is a quirky sensibility that is highly aided by its straight forward presentation.

Audio

Dolby Digital 5.1 - PCM 5.1. English and Spanish subtitles. The audio on this Blu-ray does little more than support what is on the screen. There was never a moment when I was watching this movie in the theater, or again on Blu-ray where I found myself being completely amazed at the audio that was put forth here. Ultimately, The Men Who Stare At Goats is a solidly made film. It is rich with nuanced performances, it has a strong musical score when it needs to, but everything is done in a tongue-in-cheek kind of way that makes this movie (sometimes) feel like an elongated episode of Get Smart.

Package

Clooney, Jeff Bridges, McGregor, Kevin Spacey and a goat are presented in this yellow and red front cover. The back features four images of those cast members (all from the movie), a well written description of what The Men Who Stare at Goats , a special features listing, a cast listing and technical specs. This release comes with two discs. The Blu-ray disc for your player and another disc containing a digital copy.

Final Word

The Men Who Stare At Goats is one of those movies that seems to spark curiosity. It looks quite nice on Blu-ray disc and it plays well as a release that one could rent or own. Ultimately, it will be up to the user to make that decision!