Atropia

by Mike McGranaghan

I appreciate Atropia. I really do. It doesn’t entirely work, but I appreciate the fact that it has ambition. In a time when it’s all too easy to just adapt a popular video game or comic book, there’s something to be said for a movie that at least tries to forge its own path. Had writer/director Hailey Benton Gates pulled off what she’s aiming for, this could have been a stinging commentary on the Iraq War. A couple of critical flaws limit the impact.

The title refers to a fictional Middle Eastern town, constructed in the California desert, where soldiers are trained before being deployed. Using modern Hollywood production design and stunt work, it claims to simulate Iraq so that troops are more prepared to enter the country. Fayruz (Alia Shawkat) is an aspiring actress who portrays a mustard gas scientist in this town. She’s hoping to use the gig to get noticed for an actual show-biz job, especially when an A-list star (Channing Tatum) stops by to prep for a new role. Her life turns upside down after beginning a romance with Abu Dice (Callum Turner), an actual Iraq War veteran brought in to help facilitate training.

Right there is the biggest area where Atropia goes wrong. The relationship between Fayruz and Abu Dice is unconvincing. They hook up because the screenplay requires them to, not because there’s any valid reason for them to. This section is wildly underwritten, made worse by a complete lack of chemistry between Shawkat and Turner. Since much of the back half of the movie leans on problems created by this coupling, the plot noticeably weakens.

A related matter is Gates’ inability to decide what kind of film she’s making. About half the scenes are satiric, aiming for big laughs. The other half are deadly serious. You practically get whiplash from how the tone veers between those poles.

Ironically, there are very good scenes on both sides. Several of the comedic ideas are funny, and there’s definitely impact in the dramatic ones meant to point out how American troops were thrown into a war where they didn’t understand what they were fighting for. Definitively picking one approach or the other would have yielded far more effective results. As it stands, the movie is distractingly uneven.

Atropia has fine performances and its critiques of how the administration handled the Iraq War are legit. Wag the Dog did something similar much more provocatively, though. Any movie trying to play in the same sandbox needs to rise to that level.

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