Review: Competent Performances Shine in Eastwood’s Muddled Everyday-Hero Film, 'Richard Jewell'

“A little power can turn a person into a monster, Richard. Don't do that.”

He is an 89-year-old man who will not be moved. He remains steadfast when notice is issued to clear the entire studio lot. He remains dutiful as the flames creep ever closer, only 15% contained. He remains resolute saying, “We are not evacuating, we are here working”- or so the story goes. The work? Telling the true story of the Centennial Park Bombing at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. The true story? The previously unknown narrative regarding the media frenzy and institutional abuse surrounding the act of domestic terrorism. Now, over 20 years later, it is time for the truth to emerge.

He is no stranger to the descriptor “based on a true story”. The man in question is Clint Eastwood, and he has made seven films since 2011 marketed with some version of this phrase. For the best of them, he is applauded for their ability to tell “the true story.” For the others, he is criticized for leaning into “based on” too much and letting creative liberties do much of the work. These criticisms do not slow him down. He remains dedicated to not just ordinary people rising to the occasion in extraordinary circumstances (à la The 15:17 to Paris or The Mule), but also especially those who remain in the fight after their heroism is called into question (as per Sully or American Sniper). It seems he feels a some kind of moral responsibility to set the record straight for these figures, so no mere wildfire will keep Richard Jewell’s truth from the masses. 

Richard Jewell’s accusers are two of the most powerful forces in the world and familiar Eastwood antagonists: the United States Government and the media. They allege that Jewell himself, a security guard working the event, planted the pipe bomb before reporting it to local authorities. The blast left two dead and 111 wounded. Initially hailed as a hero, the subsequent investigation into Jewell leaves his reputation irrevocably tarnished and possibly culpable for an act he vehemently denies.

Simultaneously pitiful and proud, actor Paul Walter Hauser manages to give Jewell a deep complexity not afforded to the investigating FBI or the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, the local paper who first breaks the news on Jewell’s investigation. FBI agent Tom Shaw (Jon Hamm) and journalist Kathy Scruggs (Olivia Wilde) add up to little more than caricatures of the worst in their fields, trying to maintain credibility at any cost of the entities they represent. Where the film finds its footing is in the quieter, secluded moments between Jewell, his combative attorney Watson Bryant (Sam Rockwell), and his protective mother Bobi (Kathy Bates). In one scene, Eastwood and Hauser compelling push the character of Jewell to his limits. Hauser confronts his inner circle with a ferocity that manages to still include his puppy-dog nature as we the audience are reminded of the extent to which Jewell’s inaccurate portrayal by the media still taints our relationship with him. It is the effective side of the revisionist story.

Less effective is the veracity to the events depicted and why Eastwood deems this is a story that needs to be told now. The dire consequences of the media misreporting the truth about Richard Jewell are made abundantly clear. What is lost in the mix is why Eastwood would be unconcerned with adhering to this message himself. The liberties taken with Wilde’s character and the film’s implication that she would sleep with a source to gain information have been scrutinized for being false. The hypocrisy is a tough sell for a movie proclaiming to tell the true story.

But even more fundamental to this notion of relevancy is the feeling that the movie not just depicts a different decade, but was also made in a different one. Richard Jewell seems oblivious to the ever-increasing number of true crime stories dominating every medium. Stories which, like this film, often illustrate the failure of the justice system. Additionally, it seems to be unaware of the fact that journalists’ safety is currently at a ten year low, a safety directly tied to the all-encompassing and unspecified attacks on media that which the film draws on. Hell, the nature of truth is being argued  about everyday in this country. The critiques the film has about the media are not without some merit, but seem neutered and behind the times given the current climate.

In the end, the blaze does not reach the studio lot where Eastwood worked on finishing Richard Jewell. His tunnel vision and dedication to the project lead to sub-six-month turnaround from the first day of shooting to release in theaters — quite the feat by any studio measure. As the trailer is edited and the poster is printed, one particular phrase is shared between this anecdote and the film - “based on a true story.”

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