[yasr_overall_rating]
An American civilian sets out on his own to find Osama Bin Laden.
“Army of One” tells the true story of Gary Faulkner, an ex-construction contractor and unemployed handy man who claims that he was visited by God and told to go to Pakistan to capture Osama bin Laden. You can find video of him on YouTube but his story is so fantastically bizarre, it is impossible to look away, especially considering that none other than Nicolas Cage portrays him in the movie. When was the last time you saw Cage go crazy? “The Wicker Man?” “Kick-Ass?” “Face/Off?” Or maybe the highly underrated “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans?” Regardless of which performance, the bottom line is, when Cage is portraying a paranoid, frenzied psychotic, you cannot take your eyes off of him. And “Army of One” is no exception.
The movie takes place a few years after 9/11 while the U.S. military was searching for Osama bin Laden and when we are first introduced to Gary, he is an unemployed handy man who usually shacks up with friends, until his insanity forces them to kick him out. At a home improvement store one day, he meets Marci Mitchell (Wendi McLendon-Covey), an old high school classmate who we discover used to have the hots for him and in no time, he asks her out on a date. She instantly obliges and eventually brings him home to meet her young daughter Lizzie (Chenoa Morison), and as things begin to look up for Gary, doing odd jobs around the house for Marci and Lizzie, one night God (Russell Brand) appears to him in a vision and informs him that he must make his way to Pakistan and capture Osama bin Laden.
When he informs Marci the next day what happened, she puts it down to his weird sense of humor but before she can react, he makes his way to San Diego to buy a boat for $1,500, which he was able to secure from his doctor, with his great plan to sail to Pakistan. Naturally, having never sailed a day in his life, his plan quickly falls apart but determined as he is, he flies to Pakistan instead and with absolutely no idea, or plan from God, telling him exactly where bin Laden is located, Gary must rely on his instincts, which are absolutely nonexistent.
As God becomes more and more impatient with Gary, appearing to him more frequently, upset that he is not even close to securing bin Laden, Gary resorts to smoking cannabis with the locals, hoping it will help alleviate the extreme divine pressure. From this point forward, it becomes almost impossible to separate Gary’s hallucinogenic fantasies from real life and therein lies most of the fun. Had this movie been created and written out of thin air, I doubt the powers-that-be would have ever greenlit it, but because it is based on a true story, with substantial evidence to corroborate it all over the internet, it makes for very interesting viewing.
Nicolas Cage plays Gary with a high-pitched, almost unrecognizable voice, constantly in a state of agitation and trepidation, fearing that God will appear any moment and strike him down for failing in his quest to capture bid Laden. Russell Brand appears occasionally and adds a little humor to Cage’s fearful but persevering Gary, but overall, he basically just plays himself. However, it is Wendi McLendon-Covey as Gary’s love interest Marci, who steals the show. She has always known about his quirks and eccentricities but in spite of them, she begins a relationship with him. She is loving and patient, but as time goes on, and Gary keeps unexpectedly disappearing to Pakistan to capture his prize, her frustration and constant fear for his life becomes very evident, until such time that even Gary realizes his goal of capturing the wanted terrorist, are indeed, unobtainable.
“Army of One” is riddled with plot holes so big, you could fly a jumbo jet through them. How he is able to continuously fly back and forth to Pakistan, securing a Samurai sword and pistol, without them being confiscated, and him possibly even arrested, is never explained, they just transpire in order to move the story forward. With mounting hostility towards the U.S. in the Middle East at the time, it seems very unlikely that Gary would be to walk the streets, a Samurai sword in one hand, and a pistol in the other, unscathed. But these just add to the insanity that is “Army of One.” You have to see it to believe it, and even after you have, you will still not believe it.
Available on Blu-ray, DVD & VOD Tuesday, November 15th
