Truly Dreadful Film

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Blistering performances.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

An upgright guy working for a political campaign makes a few mistakes under stress and sacrifices his integrity to keep his career. Everybody has to pay for his decision. Gut wrenching drama. First class acting all around. A treat to watch, though hard towards the end.

We are on the full campaign in Ohio for the primary nomination for the presidential election in USA. This movie shows us with remarkable realism what goes on in the backstage of the campaign of the Democratic Party in case like it could happen with any other party. The difference between the principles and values publicly proclaimed and what is done behind is enormous. Even an apparently honest candidate is caught in an intrigue plot provoked by a sexual slip blunder of his own that makes him to put aside those good principles and values he has always defended and yield to a blackmail by a collaborator he had fired for supposed treason and now wants to be hired back. Curiously this collaborator begins to be presented as idealistic and supporter of those good values and principles however not to be followed tactically in the campaign as we see. Looks like that the ends justify the means although that same idealist had already been victim of a dirty trick by another member of the candidate staff. All intervenient performers do excellent roles and the story is full of authenticity and well and convincingly shown. Politics is dirty and dishonourable indeed in most cases.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Ides Of March. It is a very good look into the dirty side of politics behind all the handshakes, speeches and smiles.The acting is extremely solid. Clooney and Gosling are fantastic and are very well supported by Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti. All of these four are very well developed in the movie and their interactions come off as very real and very believable. Evan Rachel Wood is also a great addition to the cast and throws a nice curve ball into the plot.I don't really have any negatives to report. If I was being picky, the film does drag just a touch in places, but not to the extent where you lose connection to the plot.All in all, a very good film which I would recommend as a real life look into the less crowd pleasing side of party politics.

Even though promo material says "pulse-racing thriller," I didn't believe it and sat down to watch a potentially interesting political drama. I enjoyed the twists and turns that happened as the tension mounted, and just when I thought the movie would end on a down note as an okay morality tale about corruption in politics, I was jolted out of my seat. It was just at that moment that I remembered what "Ides of March" connotes. OMG. I've been waiting for a thriller like this! One that keeps your interest until the very last frame and then, bam! Except that in most thrillers there is a question that has to be answered and it doesn't get answered until the end. In this one, you're not even sure what the question is and bam! you get blindsided. Double the fun.I think some of the reviewers who rated this low didn't get the ending. And for those who think it is utterly cynical--I think they didn't get the ending either. Isn't Gosling's character a hero? Decide for yourself.For those who were expecting deep political ideas, or a statement about politics today, no doubt they were disappointed. This is a thriller, but unlike most thrillers where there is one protagonist who confronts danger and comes out on top, this one is all about the motives and decisions of the main players. Every twist is unexpected but makes perfect sense in retrospect. I think I'll watch it again tomorrow.