GOOD KILL
US 2015, 102 minutes, Colour.
Ethan Hawke, Bruce Greenwood, Zoe Kravitz, Jake Abel, Dylan Kenin, January Jones.
Directed by Andrew Niccol.
Good Kill is the response by those operating drones, far away from the actual targets and countries, in caravans in Nevada outside Las Vegas. Each time they use their surveillance in a country like Afghanistan or Yemen, against Al Qaeda or the Taliban in 2010, press the trigger, and within 10 seconds there is an explosion, a Good Kill, and the need then to estimate the damage and estimate the body count.
Andrew Nichol has had an interesting career as a writer-director, including The Truman Show, Gattaca (also with Ethan Hawke), Simone and his critique of arms dealers, The Lord of War with Nicolas Cage.
While he presents the work of the team in Nevada, using surveillance techniques, positioning the drones and pulling the triggers, the surveillance also comes from Langley as do the decisions, through the impersonal nature of the speakerphone.
The film shows the team, led by Bruce Greenwood, Ethan Hawke as a veteran pilot now grounded but who is skilled at surveillance and who sets up the targets, assisted by Zoe Kravitz and two men who are very Hawke-oriented and agree wholeheartedly with the bombing of each target.
This experience takes its toll on some of the team, especially Hawke, wanting to go back into the air, living with some depression and tension, distant from his wife and children so that ultimately his wife, January Jones, takes the children to Reno.
Depending on points of view, audiences will be critiquing the use of the drones or supportive of them wholeheartedly. But, the story of collateral damage of civilians, and the personalised story of the brutal man who rapes and bashes a woman and becomes a target, gives emotional push to the critique.
This whole scenario was shown very effectively in Eye in the Sky, with British intelligence liaising with American intelligence and the drone operators in the same headquarters and caravan in Nevada.
1. The title, as used throughout the film? Success of a drone mission?
2. American drones, 2010, the use, surveillance, bombings, killings? The film’s attitude towards the use of drones? Discriminate and indiscriminate? The targets, collateral damage? The psyche of those who pull the triggers, the commanders, the intelligence decisions at Langley?
3. The interiors, the caravans for the drone strikes – and the notice about leaving the United States? Homes and interiors? The casinos? The atmosphere of Nevada, the desert, the bright lights of Las Vegas, the streets, the casinos? The contrast between the two worlds? The observations through surveillance of Afghanistan, Yemen and other countries? The musical score?
4. The focus on Tom Egan, age, experience, former pilot, grounded? His role in the drone squad? Surveillance and precision? The estimation of the targets? The body count? His age and experience, his regrets about not flying, making requests? His relationship with the commander, with the other members of the squad? Sharing the responsibility with Suarez? Her sensitivities? The hawkish attitudes of the other two men? Listening to the disembodied instructions from Langley?
5. The focusing of the targets, suspicions of terrorists, Al Qaeda, the Taliban? Trucks, items, civilians, suspicious men? The focus on the brutal man, entering the compound, the rape of the woman, the physical battering, the repetition – the focus of the end, Egan killing him, the risk of the death of the woman, and not knowing? His being reprimanded? His refusal to shoot at other times – and his fiddling with the controls, saying they were out of control?
6. Suarez, her skills, working with Egan, the clashes with the other two? Going out, casino, dress, talking with Egan? Empathy with him?
7. The commander, his hawkish attitudes, obeying orders, the wear and tear on him? His attitudes towards Egan, their discussions, having to reprimand him at the end? The other two men, cavalier attitudes, Hawks and the bombings and no second thoughts?
8. Egan, his home life, his wife, coping, the children, the outings, studies? His wife, intimacy, the feelings of tension, his sense of absence, the understanding of his wanting to go into combat? At home, their discussions, the difficulties with the sexual relationship? His suspicions of her, thinking about an affair, checking her phone? The decision to leave, to go to Reno with the children?
9. Egan, alone, his contemplation, his regrets? Finishing, his resignation? His driving to Reno? What future?
10. The film as a challenge to audience consciousness about drones, their effectiveness, the dangers, the decisions made thousands of miles from the targets, intelligence at Langley, seemingly disembodied experts, and the toll on those who have to execute the decisions and fire the bombs?
