Clint Eastwood’s movie about Richard Jewell, the security guard turned hero, who was falsely accused of the bombing, seems like a blast from the past. For a generation for whom 9/11 is ancient history and O.J. Simpson is a miniseries, what is its relevance?

 

In a way, the trailer answers that question with its assemblage of smug FBI guys and cold-eyed media hacks who see Jewell as a “white man”. It’s an interesting shot across the bow in an era where guys like Jewell are once again seen as the villains and the feds and the media as the heroes, where false accusations abound and the narrative matters, and the truth doesn’t.

Movies have become secure IPs meant to lure the elusive teenager into the cinema (that’s why every other movie is a comic book movie) or dramas that speak to the echo chamber of bicostal lefty elites. Few movies break that mold anymore.

Jewell looks to break that mold in an interesting way.

While the media pushes the idea that a comic book movie should be an Oscar lock, this is a movie that’s actually about something. And it’s about the things that the media doesn’t want to talk about.