One glance at Kristen Stewart’s recent resume and it’s clear the actress is eager to shrug off the shackles of Twilight. A review of her upcoming film slate indicates that sullen-faced teen Bella Swan will soon be nothing but a hazy memory. There’s no better proof of her shift into weightier fare than the latest trailer for Camp X-Ray. Directed by Peter Sattler, Stewart falls in line as Private Amy Cole, a Guantanamo Bay soldier-turned-guard who strikes up an unlikely alliance with detainee, Ali (Peyman Moaadi).
As the film is set to open in theatres this month, a new trailer has arrived that packs in a little extra footage compared to the first preview. It’s mostly a few scattered lines of dialogue, with some new inserts showing Cole’s lighter side – watching Ali playing football and smooching with a fellow officer. The urging score almost screams “serious movie!” – but will that ensure there’s a place for awards consideration?
While the new footage will no doubt pique the interest of die-hard Stewart fans, the movie has secured an early round of mixed reviews. Our own Emily Estep caught the film at Sundance earlier this year, and wasn’t impressed. Offering it two-and-a-half stars, she summarized that “Camp X-Ray falls flat when attempting to approach larger issues of human rights. Instead, it relies on pop culture references and cheesy metaphors to speak for its characters.”
Camp X-Ray hits theatres and VOD on October 17th. Check out the plot summary below and the trailer above and let us know if you’re looking forward to this one.
A young woman joins the military to be part of something bigger than herself and her small town roots. But she ends up as a new guard at Guantanamo Bay instead, where her mission is far from black and white. Surrounded by hostile jihadists and aggressive squadmates, she strikes up an unusual friendship with one of the detainees. A story of two people, on opposite sides of a war, struggling to find their way through the ethical quagmire of Guantanamo Bay. And in the process, they form an unlikely bond that changes them both.
