Movie Review - Bombshell: An unsettling reveal

Johnson Thomas

An explosive story that set the #MeToo ball rolling, Bombshell is about the women who brought down the man, Roger Ailes (John Lithgow), the puissant TV news titan who created the most powerful and controversial media empire ever. Director Jay Roach’s film follows the women of Fox News Channel who dared to expose the culture of sexual harassment that had prevailed at the cable television establishment - and this happened a year and more before allegations of abuse and harassment against Harvey Weinstein lent weight to the #MeToo movement.

It was the summer of 2016, at a time when Trump, riding high on the ‘Fox’ charger, was staking his claim as the Republican presidential nominee -- when “Fox & Friends” morning show co-host Gretchen Carlson (Nicole Kidman) filed a lawsuit against the former Fox News CEO and Megyn Kelly (Charlize Theron), the network’s star, eventually came forward with harassment tales of her own after network newbie Kayla (Margot Robbie) does some dramatic whistle-blowing about her own experience.

Loach’s narrative captivates with its truthful contemporaneity and the weight of compelling issues that it tackles. And the viewer gets as emotionally locked in as the characters in the rather bizarre unreeling of rampant sexual misconduct that suddenly brought workplace sexual harassment into the focus of public consciousness. Working from a script by Charles Randolph, Roach manages to keep the narrative ebullient while slowly building up tension as the skeletons from Ailes’ rather humongous cupboard start tumbling out in a steady rhythm.

Bombshell is bang on with its depictions of famous politicians and media magnates, unlocks the secrets behind the working of the fourth estate and lays bare an inspired tableau of wrongdoing that takes the audience from mere bemusement to affronted outrage within the span of its eventful near-two-hour runtime.

As Kelly (a totally unrecognizable, superbly and uncannily realistic Charlize Theron) opens up the doors to the inner sanctum, we experience the power of a totally immersive, note perfect performance—one that the handicap of prosthetics and heavy make-up does not hamper. Theron brilliantly mirrors Kelly’s distinctiveness - be it her voice, inflections, rhythms or mannerisms. Kidman plies on her own brand of charm with effective ease while Robbie’s magnetic dramatics and Lithgow's creepy effusiveness of the user, manipulator supreme, adds strength and power to this expose. Bombshell may not knock you out but it certainly hurts!