Parkland (2013)

Though it starts in an emotional fury, and ends with a few flashes of brilliance, first-time director, Peter Landesman's "Parkland" loses a bit of its luster after roughly thirty minutes. It starts with John F. Kennedy's assassination, and moves through the traumatic hours (and days) following at Parkland Hospital, and with the people who were directly effected by the president's murder; including Robert Oswald, Abraham Zapruder, and James Hosty, the FBI who was previously keeping tabs Lee Harvey Oswald. The cast is decent ensemble of faces you recognize, and some you know, but may not. However, Paul Giamatti, playing Zapruder, turns in the best performance of the piece. His shock and despair throughout the dealings hits you hard, and gives you an instant reaction to Kennedy's death, even though you never see it happen. He and Kat Steffens, as Jacqueline Kennedy, set the somber tone of the film perfectly. Which may dissipate slowly after the first act, but it never quite leaves you. Through this, you almost get the feeling as if you were there, which makes it a little tough to watch at times.

Grade: B
3D: N/A
Easter Egg: No

Starring: Marcia Gay Harden, Zac Efron, Billy Bob Thornton
Director: Peter Landesman
Writer(s): Peter Landesman - Book: Vincent Bugliosi
RT: 93 min
Rating: Rated PG-13 for bloody sequences of ER trauma procedures, some violent images and language, and smoking throughout