Many are asking what the point of making the film was since it really doesn’t contribute any new conspiracy theories or valuable information that isn’t already known.
The answer to that question is left up to the audience and whether they will flock to theaters to watch this movie in the wake of other much larger and very anticipated releases such as Sandra Bullock and George Clooney’s Gravity, and previous weeks left overs Ron Howard’s Rush, Hugh Jackman’s Prisoners, and last week’s No. 1 film at the box office Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs.
But the tragic events of 50-years-ago always garner interest and this time it’s no different, with a mix of young actors such as Zac Efron and veterans like Billy Bob Thornton, Paul Giamatti, and James Earl Badge, the film is a different take on the story which we all know so well.
Peter Landesman who wrote and directed Parkland, focuses his attention on the secondary players who, through their actions, were caught in the middle of one of the most historic and tragic events in US history.
Zac Efron plays the emergency room physician, Dr. Jim Carrico, who is put in charge of receiving the body of the mortally wounded President of the United States and later on, that of his killer Lee Harvey Oswald.
Efron and Marcia Gay Harden are being praised for their dramatic performances as the doctor and the nurse on call that day at the Parkland ER.
But many are saying that the film is trying too hard to bank in on the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy assassination in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963.
Stephen Holden from the New York Times says, “Far too often, the illusion of authenticity is shattered by ham-fisted dialogue in which every note of grandiosity rings an alarm.”
Parkland has received a 46 percent Tomatometer on the movie site Rotten Tomatoes and a 55 percent from the audiences who say they want to watch it.
