The true shock and awe of this film's premise is that an entire nation was duped by George W. Bush and his warmongers with a false pretext for going to war against Iraq in 2003. The focus of the film is on a tiny number of reporters for the Knight Ridder outlet, who came to believe that the Bush administration's promotion of weapons of mass destruction in the hands of Saddam Hussein was a lie.While the reporters in the film were not of the level of tenacity of Woodward and Bernstein, the Watergate premise was precisely the goal of filmmaker Rob Reiner, who reserved the role of the crusty newspaper editor for himself. The film opens with a quote from journalist Bill Moyers about the importance of a "diverse, independent, and free media" to a democratic society. The film is successful in demonstrating that thesis. It is also obvious that the absence of objectivity of the mainstream media is even more disgraceful today than it was in 2003 at the start of the Iraq war.A shortcoming of the film is that it did not follow through on its premise that the Iraq war was a misguided fiasco. A number of statistics were flashed on the screen, which were used to show the tremendous costs, loss of life, and destabilization of the Middle East, leading to the main question posed by the filmmakers: "How the hell did this happen?" Yet, there are some who still stand behind the Iraq war, including current national security advisor John Bolton. While I personally agree with the filmmakers, the chaos for the people of Iraq could have been unfolded more completely in the film.Still, the film was successful in showing how, in the climate following 9/11, there was not enough push back and dissent against the Bush administration's decision to go to war, the complaisant members of Congress who enabled him, and the pathetic effort on the part of the media to fail to explore the facts. The war in Iraq also set the tone for this nation in what has become a nearly perpetual state of war this country is fighting somewhere on the planet. A decision to go to war was made, and the Bush administration, especially Cheney and Rumsfeld, used phony evidence provided the intelligence community to support it. The key moment in the film is the Colin Powell speech before the United Nations' Security Council with CIA director George Tenet sitting in back of him. In the film, Powell was described as "the last person standing between peace and war. " Yet Powell, backed up by the arrogant Tenet, seemingly had no difficulty in spinning the yarn about WMDs. With great understatement, Powell later referred to the speech as a "blot" on his record. Did Powell learn anything at all from his experiences in Vietnam and the doctrine that bears his name? The answer delivered in this film is a resounding "No."

Why all the critical hate on this film? Maybe critics just don't like it when they look in the mirror and it displays a 'subject matter' full of post 9/11 public manipulation, military intelligence lies, complicit dishonest journalism, deceitful Politicians, the ruthless ambitions by a corrupt cabal so as to force political agendas to capitalise on oil monopolisation and to justify a 'democratic crusade' into the middle east... !!?I found the Direction of the film to be solid - it is a slow burner - but it is a great depiction of the frustrations of the Knight Ridder newsagency, not being able to get a word in, about the dishonest activity of the 'W' administration (cabal) at the wheel of a government out for blood!The cast were terrific, the dialogue and script were brilliant - 'Shock and Awe' is not an action film - OK - it is more like a docu-drama - it had me on the edge of my seat, throwing pillows at the screen and screaming in frustration! If your speed fuelled mind cannot tolerate a slow docu-drama, politic filled film, with facts flying endlessly at your eyeballs and filling your mind with impulses for RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE ... then go watch something else like Jumanji ....Top film - Top marks! The system is Corrupt ....

Oh my lord this movie is awful. Reiner just doesn't get directing. Just a bunch of made up propaganda that is unwatchable and portrayed on screen by bad actors. We know the story but it doesn't need to be brought to the big screen by boring half effort actors.

Although this movie is not good by any stretch, Shock and Awe is a timely reminder that journalists should be skeptical, independent thinkers, and avoid the common group-think mentality that they are prone to becoming part of.Instead of focusing on the failings or outright lies of "the intelligence community" in the lead-up to the Iraq war, the director instead seemed more intent on creating a love letter to the journalism industry (which also failed us at the time, and continues to repeat the same mistakes to this day).There are no winners here. The intelligence community lied (or was simply wrong, if you want to be generous). Journalists, for the most part, unquestioningly repeated those lies, leading to a long and senseless war which continues to claim the lives of veterans due to suicide. And we, the viewers, are left with a mess of a movie that fails to address these key issues with any real depth.I feel like a better director, and one who is not so emotionally invested in current politics, would have done a better job with this very important topic.