The Problem of the Hero (2023) 

A writer brings in a colleague to help turn his book into a play but they eventually find themselves at an impasse when the colleague wants to make changes to one single page that the writer does not agree with. 

Written by James A. Hodge and Ian Finley and directed by Shaun Dozier, The Problem of the Hero is a perfectly fine film with decent writing, direction, etc, but something is missing. The writing works, mostly, but it feels like something is missing, perhaps something to better connect the viewer with the material, to better connect the viewer with the characters, with the story, with anything. As it is, the story is well-written but absolutely not meant to for viewer. Will it work better for others? Possibly, most likely even. As for this viewer, well, she found herself wondering how long this film is and why it was not made as a short film or perhaps given a different feeling, or tone even. Something here did not work and made the film a bit difficult to watch. The difficulty is not in the subject matter per sey, but in how it’s approached and brought to the screen. While not having access to the script, it is hard to say what in the script may have been changed with the direction or if the direction used everything word for work. The “something missing” is perhaps from the writing or the direction, it’s hard to tell in the final product, but something is missing in either the story or how it’s brought to the screen. 

The cast here is decent, nothing particularly memorable unfortunately, but this may be due to the above. Being uninvolved in the story makes it quite difficult to connect with the characters or care about them, thus the cast has a much harder time making an impact with their performances, no matter how hard they try. The cast here is led by J. Mardrice Henderson and David zum Brunnen as the writer and the other writer being brought in for help. The two of them give decent performances and have decent chemistry, but mentioned above, their performances are not particularly memorable. The supporting cast is completely unmemorable as a few hours after watching the film, none of them can be recalled, good or bad.  

The film’s cinematography is also decent with work from director of photography Steve Milligan showing the locations just right, but without much flair or artistic liberties. Again, decent but something is missing. The images are ok and work, but they don’t really add anything to the story or the film, just coasting with the rest of the items shown within themselves. The editing by Shaun Dozier has some moments that add a bit to the film, but the rest of the runtime is very much “business as usual” for films that are decent. Nothing really fully stands out on the visual side of things either. 

The Problem with the Hero is a decent film that ends up being a bit frustrating as it never seems to elevate itself beyond something decent, beyond a passable film that folks will watch at random and forget within a day. There are themes here worth exploring, ideas worth expanding upon, and a few images that are a bit more memorable, but the film as a whole feels like a missed opportunity.