Killing Kennedy (2013)

Killing Kennedy

• So, my favorite book of all time is ‘Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot’. I’ve read it multiple times. I only just learned that it has a TV movie adaptation a few days ago, so of course, I absolutely had to watch it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the best made. Now, it wasn’t bad, just nothing special. Most TV movies about historical events are usually just a retelling, which is about what this was. At a quick pace, it briefly goes over Lee Harvey Oswald’s defection, and then some events leading up to the assassination. The whole plot goes by extremely quickly, with some very odd jumps between scenes. It wouldn’t make sense unless you’ve read the book. It’s still understandable, it just doesn’t flow the best. However, it does a good job of capturing details from the book. One thing I wish this movie did was show the assassination for a little longer than it did. The movie felt like it built up to this huge thing, but it was over and done with really quick. I really liked how it used real news footage and footage, from Cronkite’s announcement of JFK’s death, to the controversial Oswald photos, and of course, the Zapruder film. As a huge JFK conspiracy nut, it made me extremely happy to see those things. Rob Lowe did a fantastic job as JFK, from the physical likeness to the spot on Boston accent. Lowe’s athletic build perfectly captured the popular look that JFK had among his fans. Ginnifer Goodwin also did a good job, though she didn’t do much. I think the role of Oswald could’ve been cast a tiny bit better (physical-wise), but Will Rothhaar did decent. Overall, this movie was kind of corny, and it was pieced together weirdly, but I did enjoy it very much. It’s a simple reenactment essentially, but it was a good one time watch, and I’d probably recommend it to history fans.