Megan Leavey

Plot with spoilers: New York girl Megan Leavey (Kate Mara) signs up with the Marines, and ends up cleaning the kennels. She likes working with the dogs, and becomes a dog trainer for bomb sniffing dog. Soon she is Iraq working checkpoints and going on missions. She and her dog Rex are injured in a IED explosion, and she gets sent home. There she has trouble adjusting to civilian life, and tries to adopt Rex. [imdb]    [photos]

Review: It's surprisingly multidimensional, it's got Megan's struggle with her life overlaid on a war story in Iraq, overlaid with a lovable dog, plus boyfriend drama and her bitchy mom.

Fundamentally it works because of fine acting from Kate Mara, who I know from House of Cards. She can be evocative without overacting.

The story moves smoothly with a visual style.

I liked it, especially the early part; it dragged a little as the ending was set up. 

Cast: Kate Mara, Ramon Rodriguez

Directed by: Gabriela Cowperthwaite, who is documentary maker that has turned her attention to a biopic.

Based on a true story: link

The Music: Nothing special

The Visuals: The war scenes are realistic enough, but not showy. The best scene was when she was cuddling with the dog in the crate on the flight to Iraq. 

Rating: 3.0 stars: 

More: Director Cowperthwaite says the emotional core of the movie is the dog and his emotive face.

Even More: Here is the real Megan Leavey. In civilian life, after Rex died, she got another dog, and did security searches in the NYC area.

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