Parkland (2013)

"Parkland", this movie about the assassination of the 35th US President, was something I was genuinely hyped for; just finished it and man, what a letdown.

The American film company blew me away with their debut, "The Conspirator," so I figured this historical drama would hit the same way. But "Parkland" doesn't even come close to being a masterpiece like Bobby Redford's work.

I’m a huge fan of American history and I feel like I've seen pretty much everything out there, so I was really hoping this would shed some light on the Kennedy assassination. Instead, the whole thing avoids the core question entirely. Total waste of cash and time.

The American film company has a few more projects in the works, and I'm praying they're actually good. I expected something massive, maybe even on the level of JFK, but clearly, I set the bar way too high. You only get one shot at making a film like that.

Sean Johnson40 said:I’ve always been pretty into American history—well, whatever little bit there is to look into—and since I hadn't seen this stuff before, I was really hoping the movie would finally shed some light on the Kennedy assassination. But honestly? The whole thing just avoids giving any real answers. Kind of feels like a waste of both cash and time...

The thing is, they’ve been marketing this movie as a project that isn't even going to focus on Kennedy or the hit itself, but rather on other people involved. Besides, JFK handled that whole topic so perfectly that there isn't much left for anyone else to say that actually matters...

briskhound2 said:The whole thing was marketed as a movie that wouldn't obsess over Kennedy or the assassination, focusing on other people instead. But honestly, the way JFK handled that story was so spot on there's really nothing left to say about it.

I mean, fair enough, but that's one of those massive national traumas for Americans. I don't think one more movie on the subject is necessarily a bad thing, but I'll be the judge of that once I actually sit down and watch it.

The movie is a complete dud. Why spend all that time focusing on Lee Oswald’s mom and his brother? They’re totally peripheral characters who add zero weight to uncovering the truth. Then you have these random intelligence agents sniffing around the edges of the plot—they don't matter at all. The whole concept of this film is a 100% miss.

If they were going to commit to this angle, they should have actually shed some light on the assassination itself. Maybe dig into what Oswald might have confessed before he was killed, or find testimony from a bystander that points toward a conspiracy rather than just a lone gunman. Instead, we get this god-awful footage.

Nothing new, nothing vital, nothing revolutionary, nothing interesting. Honestly, the most gripping part of the whole thing was watching them tear down that barrier at the hangar just to squeeze the casket through.

Calling this movie a flop doesn't even cover it. I’m actually stunned by how much laziness and pure indifference went into tackling a subject as heavy as the Kennedy assassination..
It’s hard to even get words out without losing my train of thought..
So, I’ll just keep things broad..

The storytelling is all over the place; it just glosses over certain details as if they never happened—giving you half the picture—while mashing other facts together just to force a specific reaction from the audience...
Some parts are just flat-out wrong..

Honestly, save yourself the trouble and watch a documentary instead. This thing has zero scriptwriting merit despite being based on actual history. You'll find more drama, better info, and genuine tension in any random documentary you stumble upon online..

On top of that, the whole production feels like it has a massive agenda, constantly hunting for scapegoats beyond just Oswald to drive its point home. That seems to be the "message" they were going for..
Naturally, they got it completely wrong..

The narratives lack cohesive cohesion, leaving one questioning why these specific individuals and their particular perspectives were selected over any other potential viewpoints. A story centered on the dysfunctional cooperation within the intelligence community and their internal power struggles is a tired trope, already exhausted by countless Hollywood films and political debates.
On the other hand, given the specific aspects the filmmakers chose to highlight, the movie would have benefited significantly from an additional thirty minutes to better weave those threads together.
Ultimately, I believe the most effective approach would have been to treat each of these angles—and perhaps several others that were overlooked—as individual episodes in a documentary series, as that aligns much more closely with the tone of Parkland. Not to mention that the hospital staff, Zapuder, and Robert Oswald each possess stories compelling enough to warrant a feature film of their own.
Review at:
http://film-na-dan.blogspot.com/2013/12/parkland.html