When the previous ruler dies in a plane crash, General Noriega seizes control of Panama despite having a history of corruption and cruelty. With connections to both drug cartels and the CIA, Noriega is a typically small-time 'tin-pot dictator' who finds himself being forced out of power by those around him until he takes it by force. With a battle of words and might with the US, Noriega gradually finds himself out of his depth as he tries to get more and more of what he wants.
I didn't know anything about Noriega before I watched this movie in fact if I had known less then I might have assumed that this was a biopic about an American rapper! However the film opens with a 'history for dummies' about Panama and Noriega that helps set the scene for a story that is very simplistic and liberal with the facts but is still fun and interesting to watch. The film sweeps across Noriega's connections with cartels and the US and focuses more on his character than anything else. The sweep of facts means that it is difficult to trust it and it is not a film to watch if you wish to be well informed but it seems to touch on the bullet points as a vague summary and I found it valuable to take in the basics and learn a little if not a lot. The film pitches the film with an amusing air and it follows this through into the title character.
Here Noriega is a character of some comedy but not totally played for laughs. He is greedy, corrupt and desperate and, as such, could easily be any similar ruler of a small country! The film paints this character for entertainment rather than education but at times it manages to adopt a serious enough tone to avoid just being a bit of fluff. In fact it also injects humour into the role the US plays in the country and it is none too flattering in its depiction of the CIA etc. This is not to say that this is very real because I doubt that this is the full story as it should be told but it is enough to do the job. Hoskins was a strange choice but he does it quite well and is responsible for good a good job mixing the humour with the serious side even if he doesn't give a performance so much as a caricature of a small time dictator! The support cast is mostly good and has quite a few familiar faces but the film pretty much belongs to Hoskins.
Overall not a great film if you are looking for a factual story that you will learn from but it is an entertaining film that has enough basis in fact to be interesting and to give you a good overview of the man's story. The amusing tone makes for an enjoyable story and, although not a great performance, Hoskins does well to mix the comic with the serious and produce a film that is interesting and entertaining and worth seeing as long as you come prepared for the fact that it is far from being a factual historic film.
I didn't know anything about Noriega before I watched this movie in fact if I had known less then I might have assumed that this was a biopic about an American rapper! However the film opens with a 'history for dummies' about Panama and Noriega that helps set the scene for a story that is very simplistic and liberal with the facts but is still fun and interesting to watch. The film sweeps across Noriega's connections with cartels and the US and focuses more on his character than anything else. The sweep of facts means that it is difficult to trust it and it is not a film to watch if you wish to be well informed but it seems to touch on the bullet points as a vague summary and I found it valuable to take in the basics and learn a little if not a lot. The film pitches the film with an amusing air and it follows this through into the title character.
Here Noriega is a character of some comedy but not totally played for laughs. He is greedy, corrupt and desperate and, as such, could easily be any similar ruler of a small country! The film paints this character for entertainment rather than education but at times it manages to adopt a serious enough tone to avoid just being a bit of fluff. In fact it also injects humour into the role the US plays in the country and it is none too flattering in its depiction of the CIA etc. This is not to say that this is very real because I doubt that this is the full story as it should be told but it is enough to do the job. Hoskins was a strange choice but he does it quite well and is responsible for good a good job mixing the humour with the serious side even if he doesn't give a performance so much as a caricature of a small time dictator! The support cast is mostly good and has quite a few familiar faces but the film pretty much belongs to Hoskins.
Overall not a great film if you are looking for a factual story that you will learn from but it is an entertaining film that has enough basis in fact to be interesting and to give you a good overview of the man's story. The amusing tone makes for an enjoyable story and, although not a great performance, Hoskins does well to mix the comic with the serious and produce a film that is interesting and entertaining and worth seeing as long as you come prepared for the fact that it is far from being a factual historic film.