A Jessica Chastain Thriller You May Have Missed Just Hit Netflix
A controversial Jessica Chastain movie is now on Netflix.
This article is more than 2 years old
Gun legislation is one of the most controversial topics in the United States and the center of Jessica Chastain’s political drama/thriller that just hit Netflix. It’s a complicated movie that deals with a moral dilemma of whether or not gun violence can be solved by introducing more guns in a legal battle led by the state’s prominent cutthroat lobbyists, positioned at the opposite sides of the gun control legal battle. If you still haven’t watched Miss Sloane, a Jessica Chastain thriller/political drama, we suggest you visit Netflix, as the movie just landed there.
Miss Sloane, a 2016 political drama starring Ava‘s Jessica Chastain, follows the footsteps of Miss Elizabeth Sloane, a formidable, ruthless, and highly sought-after conservative lobbyist in D.C, in her battles to support regulatory checks on the purchase of firearms. This is somewhat strange right off the bat because this is an idea that very few conservatives would agree with, let alone those that fight for on the political front. Still, after being approached by powerful gun manufacturing companies that want her help swinging a vote against the aforementioned checks, Sloane declines and invests her formidable lobbying powers to get the bill passed instead.
Now, to say Jessica Chastain’s character is a ruthless lobbyist is an understatement. She’s relentless in her goals, a chess-playing mastermind that’s up against children playing checkers, and she cares very little about collateral if she cares at all. She has no political convictions, no ideals, no other beliefs except winning, and she’ll lie, use, and deal with anyone to win. Honestly, the aspect of Sloane’s personality is quite refreshing; rarely Hollywood decides to make a protagonist with such personal traits – almost like we’re discussing a character study.
So, Miss Sloane, portrayed by Jessica Chastain, goes against her company, her boss, and even her old friends in an attempt to collect at least 34 members of Congress to vote for her cause. At this point in the movie, all the cloak-and-dagger, lobbying, and all other dirty trickery gets used by the opposing parties in their effort to support their cause. Proving to be too much to handle by her competition, Sloane is then directly attacked by the opposition, which offers ethics charges in an attempt to bring her down and help refute the bill. Unfortunately, a cutthroat lobbyist has a few skeletons in her closet, which are presented to the U.S. Senate against Elizabeth Sloane, trying to pull some ad hominem based on her misdoings.
At this point in the movie, it’s good to remember the quote from the beginning “Always play your ace after they have played theirs.” In a classical chess-playing illusion of having your opponents think they’re winning up until the very end, a beautiful plot twist ensues. By the time they realize they’ve been played, it’s too late. We won’t disclose how the movie ends to avoid spoiling it for those who haven’t watched it.
Miss Sloane is, contrary to popular belief, not about 2nd amendment rights, and guns, though the movie centers around them. The Jessica Chastain film actually deals with the meta-duplicitousness of politics, power, and the scheming that might involve accumulating power and winning. The film was released in 2016 in the U.S. and 2017 in Europe, with an excellent critical response but abysmal earnings. Unfortunately, the movie totaled slightly over $9 million worldwide, opposing its $13-18 million budget, which branded it as a box office flop. The fact that it opened two weeks after the ugliest election in the U.S. had nothing to do with that.
Contrary to the movie’s performance, the performance of Jessica Chastain was exceptional. Many critics agreed that the entire film squarely sits on Jessica’s shoulders and that her excellent and borderline emotional performance and award-worthy work single-handedly elevated the whole movie. Jessica Chastain was nominated for the Best Actress on 2017’s Golden Globe Awards for her performance in Miss Sloane, but the award ended in the hands of French actress Isabelle Huppert. Despite amassing favorable reviews among the audience, and the critics, Miss Sloane is a box-office flop and the 75th movie with the Worst Opening Weekend since 1982.
Still, with everything said, Jessica Chastain’s Miss Sloane is a fantastic movie to watch, especially if you like jaw-dropping plot twists that would make you watch the film twice. It’s not a political film, at least not in its core. But perhaps the lack of political insight is what made it perform so poorly? We’ll let you be the judge – just hop over to Netflix.
