Was there Russian interference in the 2016 election? This two-part documentary directed by Emmy(R) and Academy Award(R) Winner Alex Gibney is a product of years of reporting on that disturbing question. With never-before-seen footage inside Russian troll farms, and videos unearthed from the Russian deep web, the film digs into the sophisticated plans to undermine democracy.
For as much research as Gibney and company clearly did in order to build the series on firm ground, in the absence of any rock solid answers, [It] ends up drawing frustratingly simplistic connections between its more fascinating themes.
Stands out for synthesizing so much of what we've heard, what we've come to believe (some of it mistakenly) about Russia and Trump, and what exactly is on the line in November.
The filmmakers reach the sobering, seemingly hard-to-refute conclusion that if Putin's intentions were to stoke dysfunction and discord in the United States, he bet on the right horse.
Easy Reader (California)
September 22, 2020
Straightforwardly lays out the mistakes of the past and the dangers of the future... what at first looks like a giant tangle of messy wires becomes a frighteningly clear blueprint for disaster.
What it does very successfully, though, is lay out an organized summary of the intricate web of fuckery Putin may have weaved, but that the United States was open to receive because of our own rabid homegrown dysfunction.
Given the show's flaws, why is "Agents of Chaos" still so clearly worthy of four hours of your time? Easy: So that nobody can claim ignorance when Russia interferes in U.S. democracy once again this November, and in 2024, 2028
"Agents of Chaos" gives us a great blueprint of how all this happened. Too often daily revelations are overwhelming and Gibney does a superb job linking them coherently. But Trump's odd orientation toward Putin is left to pure speculation.
Agents of Chaos may not move anybody's understanding beyond that "uncertainty," and if your instinct is to prefer decisive perspectives or answers, this may not be satisfying.
Great deal of information on the Russian Troll farms that we did not have before. Everything else, unfortunately, is stuff that we all already know. [Alex Gibney] connects a lot of the smaller dots, but not the big dots.
With the weight of each skullduggerous act unclear, the documentary unspooled like an uneasy timeline reel, laden with promises of payoffs it couldn't achieve.
