The Program

This review may contain spoilers!

What this film presents is a masterful performance from it's lead actor as well as incredible journey into a character's psychology. I would give The Program an 8.5/10.

The plot of this film is quite incredible, the study of Lance Armstrong's psychology as well as his elaborate doping program is pretty powerful in this film. I really can't think of the last time I saw a film that did a downward spiral of a lead protagonist so well. The pacing of the plot is really well done, you're absolutely hooked throughout. The cinematography is jaw dropping, there are some really powerful shots interspersed throughout the feature with one of my favourites the opening shot of Armstrong biking up a hill. The score for this film is beautiful, the heavy dark undertones go hand in hand with Foster's excellent portrayal.

Jesse Plemons, who played Floyd Landis, is really interesting as a morally conflicted character in this film; this is my all time favourite performance from Plemons. Lee Pace, who played Bill Stapleton, really works well as this sketchy corporate lawyer; his last line of the film where he gently tries to tell Foster that Nike is distancing themselves from him is one of my favourite scenes. Dustin Hoffman, who played Bob Hamman, is very laidback in this film but it works quite well for the role he plays; Hoffman is very nuanced in his delivery of this concerned businessman who has a lot to lose due to Armstrong. Chris O'Dowd, who played David Walsh, was a perfect choice for this film; he really rivaled Foster and I loved the amount of passion O'Dowd brought to his performance.

However the best performance of the film came from Ben Foster, who played Lance Armstrong. This could quite possibly be one of my favourite performances of the year, Foster's work on this character is quite simply mind blowing. There is an underdog aspect to Armstrong that makes us like him at first, he's charming and quite funny. There's a great scene where we see him share a genuine moment of empathy with a child suffering from cancer, it's quite a humbling scene in the film and reminds us of Armstrong's humanity. However that's the last we get of moments like that, from there on out we see Foster portray the dark side of Armstrong. The threats he delivered, the lies he so genuinely spun, even his sudden aggressive outbursts were displayed immaculately by Foster. My favourite scene of the film is one in which Foster practices what he is going to say in front of the media to a mirror; the scene is significant because you see the true deceptive nature of Armstrong here while also encountering a feeling of fear because Ben Foster is just that good of an actor.

While I was a big fan of the plot I must admit the first twenty minutes of the story was quite rushed, there could have been more attention to the first use of performance enhancing drugs as well as Armstrong's bout with cancer. The soundtrack for this film wasn't the best (excluding Leonard Cohen's 'Everybody Knows'), the tracks were all over the place and there didn't seem to be any consistent direction the soundtrack was taking. The editing was one of the worst qualities of the film, shots dragged on for too long or cuts would just come at really awkward times.

 Guillaume Canet, who played Medecin Michele Ferrari, felt like a cartoon character in this film; he was playing his role far too over the top to resemble anything convincing. Denis Menochet, who played Johan Bruyneel, didn't really have much screen presence in this film; his performance diminished against that of Foster and Plemons.