One could fairly describe me as a vocal David Simon advocate. Through five seasons of
The Wire, I was that guy who would take every possible opportunity to declare it the best show on television and to crown Simon, its creator, the shimmering salvation of modern TV. One would think, then, that asking my thoughts on Simon’s latest project,
Generation Kill, would be an exercise in partisan hackery. And one would be wrong. While in my personal life I am a “fan” of David Simon’s work, as a critic I don’t know the meaning of the word. I exist in a vacuum of allegiance, with only my searing analytical eye to guide me. I’ve booed a baby, panned my mother’s meatloaf. I am a relentless cultural assassin, whose only goal is the truth.
And so I present to you…
MY COMPLETELY UNBIASED REVIEW OF DAVID SIMON’S GENERATION KILLGeneration Kill is a program that should have come out in 2003, when the events of the show were actually taking place. While obviously an impossibility, 2003 seems the only time that this on-the-ground re-telling of the early days in
Iraq could hold any meaning. It’s as well-made as anyone could
want: crisply written, beautifully shot, with a cast of characters as developed as one would expect from the seasoned David Simon. The problem, through two episodes, is: So what?
Simon's latest is off
to a measured, meticulous start, introducing a cast of deeply interesting characters in the first throes of their Iraqi odyssey. The anticipatory mood is pitch-perfect through the exhaustive hurry-up-and-wait of the first days of combat. It is only when the soldiers are finally
given to battle, however, that the full scope of the one-sided conflict is revealed. With far superior weaponry, daunting air-support, and a rapidly eroding standard of conduct, the Americans are the perfect Goliath to the Iraqi’s trembling
David. And while the seldom seen enemy combatants look and feel overmatched, it is the struggles among the allies that are cause for concern. From volatile, blood-thirsty soldiers to ranking Officers who reduce the military hierarchy to a glorified game of
Simon Says, the ch
aos of war is not reserved for the front lines.
While I must
hand it to Simon for this eye-opening, hyper-real and often shockingly life-like retelling, I can’t help but think his ambitions were higher. While his previous series,
The Wire, was laced with piercing social commentary,
Generation Kill seems to stop short. Whether the themes of the show are yet to develop, or the Iraq dialogue has simply moved on, Simon’s take, through two episodes, seems surprisingly obvious. The show does a beautiful
job of telling the story, but has yet to tell us what it means.