Movie Review: Reagan

By John Corrado

”Peace through strength.”

That was the famous adage of President Ronald Reagan when it came to his foreign policy approach, and taking on the “evil empire” of the Soviet Union during the final stages of the Cold War. This motto also provides the backbone for director Sean McNamara’s Reagan, a new biopic that stars Dennis Quaid as the 40th President of the United States.

When pressed that “peace through strength” might sound too simplistic, Quaid’s Reagan puts it in even starker terms; “we win, they lose.” It’s a compelling narrative that underpins Reagan as a movie, which is at its best when settling in to being a portrait of how he won this war against the Soviets “without firing a single shot.”

McNamara’s film is very much intended as an inspirational reminder of Reagan’s guiding principles, showing how the Republican President viewed the fight against communism as a moral battle between good and evil. Right versus wrong. The communist sympathizers then (and now) would argue that it wasn’t that simple, but maybe it was (and is) that simple when it comes to advancing and protecting Western values of freedom and individual liberty.

The film follows the usual cradle-to-grave biopic beats, from his childhood as a boy in small town Illinois (played by Tommy Ragen in flashbacks) and young adult years as a lifeguard and football player (played by David Henrie), to his deep love for his wife Nancy (Penelope Ann Miller). But the bulk of the story concerns his fight against the communist ideologies that were being pushed from within to destabilize the West, by Soviet influences that had infiltrated Hollywood and the American universities (something that we are still seeing play out to this day on college campuses).

The film opens with the 1981 assassination attempt (moments that are even more chilling now after witnessing the attempted assassination of a former president – and current candidate – a few weeks ago). The unlikely narrator behind it is Viktor Petrovich (Jon Voight), a retired KGB agent who is shown recounting the story of Reagan’s rise to power and time in the Oval Office, to young Russian politician Andrei Novikov (Alexey Sparrow). Voight’s Petrovich reflects on how Reagan was viewed as such a threat to the Soviets that he was in charge of surveilling him from the time he was rising through the ranks as a Hollywood actor.

The film breezes through showing us how Reagan first took on communist influences in the union as president of the Screen Actors Guild, before becoming Governor of California, and finally taking the Presidency in 1980 (following a failed primary bid in 1976), where he could deal the final blow to the Eastern Bloc in the Cold War (“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall”). In fact, the moments when Reagan faces down Mikhail Gorbachev (Olek Krupa) are some of the film’s most thrilling.

Based on Paul Kengor’s non-fiction book The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism, Howard Klausner’s screenplay covers a lot of ground; the film is cramming decades worth of political history – including a governorship and and two presidencies – into 140 minutes. As such, elements or figures (including Vice President Bush) can feel glossed over, and the film does feel like it is painting in broad strokes at times.

But Reagan gets the big moments right, and delivers a number of rousing scenes. The main point of McNamara’s film is to showcase his greatest achievements, and how significant they were in the course of advancing freedom in the world. Quaid isn’t doing a full impression, but more of a loving portrayal; a charming but tenacious world leader with a charming twinkle in his eye and a crooked smile, who was equally adept at cracking jokes and vigorously defending Western values in his speeches. If Quaid looks a bit too old to play him in his younger years, he grows into the role. It’s a solid, respectful performance that carries the film.

The most obvious criticism of Reagan will be that it can feel a bit like a TV movie, and there are times when the film’s obviously more limited budget makes certain period details feel less convincing. Despite touching on controversies like the Iran-Contra deal, which nearly derailed his presidency, this film isn’t made for critics of Ronald Reagan (the only references to the War on Drugs and the AIDS crisis are in brief glimpses of archival footage).

Perhaps a tighter narrative would have honed in more on aspects such as his working relationship with speechwriter Dana Rohrabacher (Derek Richardson), or his friendship with young Secret Service agent John Bartletta (Trevor Donovan) who was tasked with going on horse rides with him, both of whom are key figures in the film. But the fact that it feels like we don’t have enough time to cover it all adds to the bittersweetness of the final scenes, and the feeling of trying to encapsulate a great life into a limited amount of time.

The poignant final moments deliver the emotional impact of witnessing Reagan’s bright light being extinguished by Alzheimer’s, and McNamara renders them in a moving way that is befitting of his legacy as Old Hollywood star. The film is made for audiences who admired his leadership as a great figurehead for the country, one who was able to defend and articulate American ideals in a way that still resonates to this day. It’s as much a portrait of Reagan himself as it is a celebration of his deep-rooted faith, and a reminder of how his clear-eyed leadership helped him win the fight against communism.

Reagan should be remembered as a calm, steady voice who led the nation through the end of the Cold War, and the last presidential candidate who was able to carry 49 out of 50 states upon his re-election in 1984 (an achievement that now seems almost inconceivable, at least for the foreseeable future). The viewers who come to Reagan will be ones who do so because they continue to view him as an inspiring champion of conservatism and Western values. As such, it’s a decent biopic, offering an entertaining and at times moving tribute to one of the 20th century’s most prominent leaders.

Film Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)