Catch-22

The Mike Nichols 1970 adaptation is a masterpiece in virtually every way. Amazing cinematography, innovative de-constructed screenplay, absolutely perfect casting, and most importantly genuinely conveys the dark insanity of the war as Heller's novel portrays, the absurdity of the military, and the banality of evil. Spectacular in every respect.

Despite being 6 hours rather than 2, this really adds nothing, while falling short of the original film's concise storytelling. It's very pedestrian and TV movie in its approach looks more like an Abercrombie & Fitch commercial than a serious film. Interchangeable pretty boys that fail to differentiate themselves as characters.

It's competent and very watchable, but to me it falls well short of the film to an almost embarrassing degree. Not quite as bad a comparison as the TV version of "The Shining" to the Kubrick film, but damn close...

One of the greatest books ever written, certainly as an anti-war film. I had never heard of the guy who played Yossarian, but he was amazing. His face is so emotive and he captured the complexity of his character. Yossarian is not a hero; some call him a bit of a coward, but he represents something in all of us. He doesn't want to die because some bullying general who never flies a mission. He has done his duty but they keep adding more missions every time he approaches his discharge limit. For those of you who totally missed the point and were expecting a regular war movie, did you get what the title means?

John "Yo-Yo" Yossarian (Christopher Abbott) joined bomber command to prolong his training and hoping to avoid a short war. He has to survive training under Scheisskopf (George Clooney) and later flying under the command of Colonel Cathcart (Kyle Chandler) who continuously raises the mission count needed to be sent home. He's a great bombardier but he can't deal with the illogical craziness of his own side. He is desperate to get out. Doc explains to him that if he asks to leave due to mental issues, he would show survival instincts and thereby proving that he's not crazy. That's the catch-22. Other characters include the wheeling and dealing Milo, the caring nurse Duckett, and Major Major who gets promoted to Major through incompetence like so many other characters.

Yo-Yo annoyed me at first. He whines so much although he's not without his points. It is very Fubar. It would be more appealing to have start him as an innocent and have the war turn him into a cynic. After awhile, I get the point of his character and the craziness does get to be fun. Milo is weirdly endearing and even Chandler is not an evil villain. The evil villain is the situation and the world. It's a screwed up world and everybody has a slice of it. Everybody deals with it in their own ways and Yo-Yo insists on fighting it. This Hulu miniseries is a good adaptation of the anti-war classic.

The book is above all about the characters so that I was expecting a brilliant script for a whole series dedicating at least a chapter to each of them, just like in the novel. The reading of the Heller's novel was so much fun because if you were not able to grasp what was really going on because the telling wasn't following any linear time (and this is also a clever device to let the reader forming the idea about the chaos of war and combat) at least you were hooked to the story of each of the guys, following them to the next chapter and crossroad when another one was met to keep the story going. The movie wasn't that far from the written pages but had to cut some memorable characters because of the constraint of time: in a series they had so much time they should have profited immensely by just building up on each of them: in our times we have seen some great examples both in movies and TV series with multiple characters' story lines crisscrossing and weavering into a surprising design that we come to realize only at the end, and we enjoy the ride on such marvelous story telling style that leaves us enriched and amazed. Not to speak of the complete lack of the satirical vein: it is not coming through at all. If the production values (cinematography, location, costumes, sets, actors, CGI) are ok if not excellent, the scripting was uninspired, poor and mindless: ultimately this faulty script brings the complete failure to the whole effort.

This series captures the essence of Joseph Heller's anti-war novel which I've read many times. Mike Nichol's tried to do so in his 1970 film, but fell short because of, in this viewer's opinion, the limitation of two hours not being enough time to adapt the novel. I believe the novel is a brilliant commentary on the lunacy of war as Heller saw it, which was ahead of it's time. This dark dramedy does an exceptional job displaying the satire and insanity that is expressed in the novel. This series has excellent direction, settings, soundtrack, costume and acting. However the cinematography is outstanding as well as the writing of Michod and Davies. All of the actors deliver superlative performances. In particular Abbott, Laurie, Stewart and Pullman stand out. Clooney's limited time in the series as Lieutenant Scheisskopf is worth it. His dialogue delivery, facial expressions and gesticulations are absolutely priceless. The same goes for Chandler as Colonel Cathcart throughout the series. The plot is set during WWII in Italy and revolves around a squadron of bombardier pilots with the central character being Yossarian A.K.A. Yo-Yo. He is the one man that seems to understand how egregious his situation is and the war is in general, pun intended. With the Germans retreating, Yo-Yo figures out that by convalescence he can get out of completing his required flight missions which starts out at 19. This is where Catch-22, which was coined by Heller, comes into play. Catch-22 is a diabolical military rule which states that if a man declares he is insane to get out of duty, well then he must be a sane man because you'd have to be crazy to fly bombardier missions to begin with therefore you are sane and you can't be discharged from duty. Essentially for all you readers that are unfamiliar with the phrase, it is a situation that is impossible to get out of. To top this off the maniacal Cathcart keeps upping the number of missions needed to complete one's duty and it always happens when a man is just a few missions from completing his duty. The series has all of the main characters from the novel; Yo-Yo, Cathcart, de Coverley, Scheisskopf, Milo, Aardvark, Nurse Duckett, Major Major Major ( that's not a typo) and more. The series does a marvelous job examining certain characters such as de Coverley as he navigates the war in the background as sort of a neutral character who hides in plain sight, Mess Officer Milo as he escapes flying missions by becoming a war profiteer, Major Major Major Major as he gets by solely because of having a name that was given to him as a practical joke by his father and Nurse Duckett who is on Yo-Yo's side but sees right through him.. As the missions grow from 19 to 25 to 30 to 55 the stakes get higher for Yo-Yo as he continues to try to find ways to beat the bureaucracy such as flying 11 missions quickly and handing in paperwork all at once before the missions can be raised again. We see the men during down time tying to enjoy a normal life during the most sinister of times. The series scrutinizes what lengths men are pushed to during the stress of war time and what lengths they'll go to in order to rid themselves of the madness. There are so many memorable quotes and scenes in the series. If I had to choose a quote it is when Scheisskopf asks a stenographer to read me back what I just said and the stenographer replies, "Read me back what I just said". The look on Scheisskopf's face is uproarious. My favorite scene would have to be when Cathcart is berating the squadron on how they missed this huge target in Rome only to have one of the men point out that it is Vatican City. The series is crisp, insightful, captivating, cathartic, duplicitous, gritty, daft, certifiable and blazing. In this viewer's opinion the series does a pronounced job in adapting the novel and respectfully conveys Heller's message. Catch-22 is beguiling and superior in the dark dramedy genre.