An Exercise In Nonsense

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Anyone who knows the story of Watergate is typically fascinated by "Deep Throat", the government informant who tipped off Bob Woodward and the Washington Post about not only the cover-up but about Nixon's operatives who tried to sabotage political enemies. This film attempts to expose who Mark Felt was and why he became Deep Throat. The good news of the film is a tremendous performance by Liam Neeson and a solid supporting cast. The not-so-good news is the lack of juicy moments which were sacrificed. I was a bit unsatisfied by film's end.Mark Felt, a.k.a. Deep Throat, will go down in history as possibly the most famous informant in US history. The question has always loomed: why did he break ranks and leak information to the press? Concerning these two questions, the film succeeds in answering them more or less. Felt was caught between a hard place and the Nixon administration. That hard place was Watergate in which the FBI was the de-facto investigative body. After J. Edgar Hoover died while still serving as FBI director, the White House nominated L. Patrick "Pat" Gray as acting director and put his name forward as a candidate for permanent director. Gray was simply a pawn of the White House and the Nixon administration. The different federal agencies are supposed to act independently to prevent collusion and consolidation of power. Gray came from the military, and Nixon probably believed by putting Gray in the director's chair rather than someone who had decades of experience at the bureau, like Felt, the new administrator would carry out Nixon's bidding. Gray did things as ordered by the White House not realizing the FBI does not submit to the President. Mark Felt also believed he should have been nominated as the new director instead of an outsider like Gray. With these forces acting upon him, Felt relents and engages in behavior which he had never done in 30 years: leak important information to the press. Where the film fails, sadly, is in one of the most important and fascinating aspects of the whole Watergate episode: his relationship with Bob Woodward. The film shows only two phone calls and one garage meeting with Woodward. In "All the President's Men", three meetings are portrayed with Hal Holbrook as Deep Throat. A missed opportunity. I wanted to experience on-screen how Felt and Woodward met and how their relationship developed. This is the juiciest aspect of Felt's story which was compromised. Another side story explored in the film is Felt's daughter who joined a commune. While interesting, I found that tangent less compelling than his relationship with Woodward which was given very little screen time. Overall a bit of a disappointment.

Well written story and great performance by Liam Nelson as Mark Felt.

This is the biopic of Mark Felt also code named "Deep Throat" by the Washington Post. The production concentrates on the internal workings of the FBI during this time as well as Felt's personal struggle to reunite with his daughter who ran away and joined a hippie commune. It starts about the time J. Edgar Hoover died. The film was timely in a sense as it eerily mirrors the Mueller investigation of the White House. You can't help but think about what is happening today. I am a sucker for history films and tend to over rate them. I would say "All the President's Men" was a superior film and an excellent counterpart. Guide: 1 F-word. No sex or nudity.

Having lived through the Nixon years, I was hoping for a more complete All The Presidents Men. Knowing now the name of Deep Throat, I was looking for cinematic greatness (or at least some entertainment) in the retelling of this important story. The historical accuracy was my only reward. Mark Felt is a movie worth watching, but as a documentary and not as a compelling movie. The Nixon years were a time when a ruthless, suspicious, narcissistic psychopath looked to consolidate the power of the presidency and move our nation towards an imperial democracy. Anyone see any possible parallels to current events? Mark Felt as a man belongs on a short list of patriots who stepped up at a critical moment in American history, much like Patrick Henry or (more controversially) Edward Snowden. Instead, we got a historically accurate but dramatically deficient movie that will be quickly forgotten. Like most reviewers on IMDB, I am ignorant of how movies are truly made. I cannot say who bears responsibility for making this an average film. The director? The writer? Liam Neeson leads an able cast and does a good job. The true story was an emotional cliffhanger, with the stakes being the highest since the Civil War. Nixon was a man elected president who wanted to become a dictator. Mark Felt and the Washington Post took him on almost singlehandedly, and saved the Constitution. This story needs to be retold. Mark Felt, The Man Who Brought Down the White House, doesn't come close to capturing the real life drama and importance of this OMG moment in our nation's history.