Saw it.Loved it.
As someone who takes disappointment hard, the movie resonated with me on a lot of levels.
It's hard going through life open to hurt. Taking risks both in your personal and professional life can mean you lose more often than you win.
Trying to find a life partner. Trying to get published. You have to open up and take chances.
Watching Clooney's character take on an protege, find a lover, rediscover his family, I both cheered his growth and held my breath waiting for the axe to fall.
His character fascinated me. He claimed he wanted an empty backpack, nothing pulling at him, yet the care with which he treats the people he's hired to fire shows he has a huge heart. He offers comfort and compassion, but refuses to need it in return.The theme of the movie was loyalty. It's explored in a number of ways. He was loyal to Hilton, Hertz, and American Airlines. They in turn, had his back. He was firing people who'd been at their jobs for years and years. His protege has trouble with her boyfriend who'd promised a future together. His sister is separating from her husband. His lover is only looking for fun.
In the movie, his goal is to reach ten million miles. It will make him only the seventh person to achieve this. He considers the plane his home. It's the place where he belongs. But as the movie progresses and travel is threatened, it's then that he reaches out to the people in his life. He starts to reassess what's truly important. Only to suffer a grave disappointment.
I found it interesting that he started and ended the movie in the same place psychologically even though he goes through a lot of perspective altering growth. This was a complex, character driven movie that I want to see again. And I'm going to read the book because I have the feeling that it would be a very rich, thought provoking story.
Have you seen it? If so, what did you take away?
