Shock and Awe is the latest film about heroic journalists hunting down a story that could hurt an administration. The film depicts the period leading up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the toppling of Saddam Hussein. In the days leading up to the invasion many of the major U.S. media outlets supported the idea of an invasion.
This film is not about them. This film celebrates those that took their duty as journalists seriously and asked the tough questions. Shock and Awe depicts the race against time to find out what was about to happen. As we now know they failed to prevent the war that followed and still hasn’t ended 15 years later.
It seems like the Trump administration and its continued verbal attacks against the media has caused Hollywood to greenlight a number of projects about heroic journalists with Shock and Awe following films like The Post and Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House, both of which came out last year. It’s difficult to gauge whether the tone of the film will be similar to films like The Post or Spotlight or whether this will be more of a conspiracy thriller type of film. Regardless of tone, it will certainly be fun watching a group of people try to untangle a web of lies, which we can safely assume will be a major part of the film.
Shock and Awe is directed by Rob Reiner and stars Woody Harrelson, James Marsden, Milla Jovovich and Jessica Biel. It will be released in the U.S. on July 13th, 2018. For international release dates click here.
What are some of your favourite films about journalists? Let us know in the comments!
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