I haven’t been able to catch up on movies the last two weeks, but I was able to catch a screening of Megan Leavey for Father’s Day. I was probably 8-11 years old when the real story that this movie’s based on occurred, but I have no direct connection to it. The movie itself by the box office wasn’t a huge hit, making 8.1 million in total, but did receive an 81% on Rotten Tomatoes.
None of that matters for me of course as I like to give my own thoughts. And let’s see if Megan Leavey is an underrated gem, or something no one really needed.
Megan Leavey (played by Kate Mara) enlists in the US Marines after getting fired from her job and finally had enough of her horrific mother (played by Edie Falco). Megan had little to lose, dealing with depression, the lost of her best friend and an unhappy divorced family.
Her issues got to the best of her early on when she got drunk one night and peed on the bushes next to Corporal Matt Morales (played by Ramon Rodriguez)’s office. As punishment for immediately getting caught, she had to do maintenance and volunteering chores until when a war dog by the name of Rex, bites the arm of his old owner.
So when Megan asked to train and possess a war dog, the officials give her Rex. While she starts off regretting her request, her and Rex share a powerful bond that is the strongest aspect of the movie. Their positive relationship of course is required with they have to use Rex to sniff out stolen weapons, disguised thugs and tucked-in explosives.
After much success and Megan being recognized as a war hero, she has to then face the challenge of retiring and being able to bring her dog back home with her for his last few years in life.
At the first fifteen minutes, I don’t know if I was feeling it because Megan makes it clear that she doesn’t like people, even to those who treat her with the needed respect. Her mom is bad, but when she’s peeing in the bushes, then bossing the higher ranked officers around, I was not with her.
It is when you get Megan and Rex together, does this movie finally get somewhere. Both Megan and Rex have their own behavior issues, so seeing them improve off of each other is kind of heart warming. I’d have to give it to Kate with her likeness and performance, because it was point-blank obvious to catch the real-life Megan Kelly cameo, just of how similar the two look and sound.
Whether or not a ton of this movie’s narrative is true to the actual event remains to be seen, but at least the likeness and sound of Megan Kelly and Rex are captured beautifully here. The other actor I’d give the highest praise to is Tom Felton as Sergeant Andrew Dean, who helped Megan off of her training wheels as a dog handler.
I’m just amazed at who was originally the biggest jerk in Harry Potter is the most friendly and sincere dog veteran. His American accent, lines and execution was mind-blowing. I’m also amazed at some of these rappers as well, with Common giving a realistic Gunnery Sergeant role, known as Massey in the film.
The war scenes are incredibly effective for looking cheap. You can tell they are filming the parts of Iraq, Fallujah and Ramadi on the country side of the US, but the choreography, performances and what they were able to do with their small budget will allow you to buy into the action and get chills down your spine from the rising tension.
It almost feels a bit off to that after improving herself with the other soldiers and even getting herself a boyfriend, she goes back to being an ungrateful brat towards kind folks when she retires without Rex. Part of this happens over the movie tossing in a villain for no reason other than drama.
They’ve got this US Army dog vet (played by Shannon Tarbet) who is only there to be an obstacle in the film, hating Rex and really wanting to put him to sleep. In real life, an animal vet, even in the military, would probably not go straight to death without looking into things or coming up with treatments.
She’s just an angry British lady that really wants this dog axed because reasons. I know she had to get Senator Chuck Schumer to intervene with the military not allowing Megan to adopt her dog, but I cannot believe that an animal vet like this exists without getting fired or arrested.
I get she deals with depression, but to go around and be terrible to kind folks who are trying to cheer her up or help her cannot be justified, especially after seemingly improving herself with others throughout. To put it plain and simple, Megan Leavey works when it’s just her and Rex and even a couple of the supporting actors are excellent as well, but when Rex is not in the movie, that’s when I’m not with this movie.
Luckily though, a huge chuck of the film is Megan and Rex together, along with the nerve-wrecking war scenarios and stronger camp tales. For that, this biopic is an extremely satisfying rental that can even be a decent experience on the big screen. The issues this movie faces, along with not the most fitting soundtrack at times, prevent this from being amazing or a must catch on-screen.
I’d almost bump the rating down to decent because the problems this movie has are strong, but its a good flick that you won’t regret watching if you do!
Pond's Press 