- Network: National Geographic
- Series Premiere Date: Nov 10, 2013
Critic Reviews
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The pace and the performances carry the film.
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Rob Lowe does a respectable turn as JFK... [But] It’s the lesser-known story of Lee Harvey Oswald, expertly played with simmering anger by Will Rothhaar, that’s most interesting.
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[A] solidly watchable, quickly forgettable dramatic snapshot of indelible history.
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Like the book on which it is based, Killing Kennedy sticks pretty much to knowable facts. While this means some suspicions are not ruled out, Oswald is depicted as acting on his own--and seems able to get off several shots quickly--so there is no grassy knoll, etc. Think of it as a Cliffs Notes version of the Warren Commission.
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Killing Kennedy easily could have been twice its length, the better to add both nuance and context. Instead it’s a watchable film with many missing parts, a broadly drawn Classics Illustrated version of what happened and why.
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It's hardly groundbreaking, but if you are documentary-challenged, or don't know much about Lee Harvey Oswald (Will Rothhaar) and his Russia-born wife, Marina (Michelle Trachtenberg), you might learn something. Also: Lowe's Kennedy hair is truly amazing.
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We already know too much and paradoxically too little about the JFK assassination. A TV movie needed to tell us something we don't know. No dice here.
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The attempt to make this a story about two men grates. It’s as if someone wanted to elevate Oswald in order to humanize Kennedy. It doesn’t work--nor does the Oswald funeral scene.
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You won't come away from it with any new answers, but it's a useful reminder of why the drama of that day has transfixed Americans for half a century.
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There’s no real attempt at authenticity or immediacy, but the clarity of simple A to B to C storytelling offers some satisfaction. On the whole, it’s an unengaged affair.
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There’s nothing terribly wrong with Killing Kennedy. We just don’t need the splashes of Hollywood in a story we already know way too well.
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Instead of moving on, Killing Kennedy is an exercise in standing so stiffly that you’ll wonder if it was produced by Madame Tussauds.
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Killing Kennedy is so earnest and episodic as to sap any dramatic life from the movie, which weaves in selected news footage to enhance its sense of authenticity. Virtually all the dialogue is stiff and on the nose.... The entire cast is about as animated as the figures in Disney World’s Hall of Presidents.