Andrew Garfield's Movie Debut Was in an Overlooked War Drama With Tom Cruise & Meryl Streep (2024)

While it generally takes an actor several years after entering the industry to become a household name, Andrew Garfield has had one of the quickest rises to prominence out of any young star. It was arguably his heartbreaking performance as Eduardo Saverin in The Social Network that first put Garfield on the map for cinema fans, indicating he could bring pathos and realism to films that were already nearly perfect. While his tenure in The Amazing Spider-Man films didn’t turn out in his favor, Garfield has since reinvented himself as a nontraditional leading man, and worked alongside talented directors such as Martin Scorsese, David Robert Mitchell, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Mel Gibson. Although The Social Network is often cited as his breakout, Garfield made his acting debut in the political drama Lions for Lambs.

Lions for Lambs was directed by and stars Robert Redford, whose career behind the camera has been interesting to say the least. While Redford earned an Academy Award for his direction of the heartbreaking family drama Ordinary People, his subsequent work was relatively disappointing; films like The Horse Whisperer and The Legend of Bagger Vance were far too cloying and sentimental for their own good. Lions for Lambs is perhaps the most egregious of Redford’s failings as a director, as the film beats the viewer over the head with its anti-war sentiments. Although the film itself may irritate any viewers expecting something more prestigious, Garfield’s performance in Lions for Lambs makes it worth watching.

Lions for Lambs

R

Drama

Thriller

War

Three stories told simultaneously in ninety minutes of real time: a Republican Senator who's a presidential hopeful gives an hour-long interview to a skeptical television reporter, detailing a strategy for victory in Afghanistan; two special forces ambushed on an Afghani ridge await rescue as Taliban forces close in; a poli-sci professor at a California college invites a student to re-engage.

Release Date

October 22, 2007

Director

Robert Redford

Cast

Robert Redford , Meryl Streep , Tom Cruise , Michael Pena , Andrew Garfield , Peter Berg

Runtime

92 minutes

Main Genre

Drama

Writers

Matthew Michael Carnahan

What Is 'Lions for Lambs' About?

Set amidst the ongoing United States military operation in Afghanistan, Lions for Lambs is an examination of military policy as seen through the eyes of a veteran professor and his cynical student. The idealistic West Coast university professor Stephen Malley (Robert Redford) learns that two of his former students, Ernest Rodriguez (Michael Peña) and Arian Finch (Derek Luke), enlisted in the United States Army after listening to his inspirational speech in class. Malley hides this information from his new student Todd Hayes (Andrew Garfield), whom he feels has not lived up to his potential. As Malley and Hayes discuss the role that young people should play in the war effort, the film flashes back to Ernest and Arian's experiences in the war, connecting their activities to the out-of-touch journalist Janine Roth (Meryl Streep) and the corrupt Senator Jasper Irving (Tom Cruise).

Garfield is brilliant in Lions for Lambs because he serves as the audience’s stand-in character. Redford clearly had political goals with the film, but it's hard to take anything away from the sections of the film set in Afghanistan when they are so overt and loaded with takeaways. However, the framing of the film as a singular conversation allows Lions for Lambs to isolate the entire conflict into a singular debate, with Garfield’s character voicing the question, “Why should I care?” Garfield is clearly playing a character of both intelligence and strong ethics, and it's up to Redford as both an actor and director to ensure that his skills are put to good use.

Garfield’s role in Lions for Lambs was not an easy one, as it would’ve been very easy for Todd to be perceived as incredibly obnoxious. The film constantly undercuts his opinion that nothing he does matters by showing inspiring footage of Ernest and Arian on the front line. However, Garfield manages to ensure that Todd’s ignorance is a result of him not having an adequate mentor, and not because he is pretentious or cruel. This allows Garfield’s performance to be more tragic, as it's clear that Todd has been failed by the static nature of the education system. Garfield suggests that Todd’s lack of awareness stems from him being denied the opportunities to put his skills to good use.

Andrew Garfield Is the Best Part of 'Lions for Lambs'

The overarching theme of Lions for Lambs is that the film itself feels too staged for its own good, as every situation works out in a manner that appeases Malley’s point-of-view. However, Garfield inserts an earnestness in Lions for Lambs that makes the material more approachable, particularly for those who may relate to his character. Lions for Lambs doesn’t do itself any favors by catering to a subsection of viewers who already agree with Redford’s perspective; theoretically, the film would work better as a political drama if it challenged these ideas with a younger character who had different priorities. Garfield satisfies this role, and almost single-handedly carries the third act of the film on his shoulders.

Garfield being an unknown actually helped Lions for Lambs, as the film’s star power occasionally undercut its drama. It’s certainly interesting to see Cruise and Streep playing against type in unusual roles, but it turns the emphasis of the film on the performances, and not on the issues at hand. Since the viewers don’t have any familiarity with Garfield based on past performances, he is able to lose himself in the character in a more authentic way. It’s also impressive that Garfield, an unknown at the time, was able to hold his own on screen when working with an actor and director of Redford’s caliber.

'Lions for Lambs' Set a Precedent for Andrew Garfield's Career

Lions for Lambs may not have been the breakthrough awards contender that MGM clearly intended it to be, but the film established Garfield’s ability to save a mediocre movie. It’s perhaps the most memorable aspect of Garfield’s legacy as Peter Parker that even those who despised The Amazing Spider-Man films rarely had anything bad to say about his performance. Similarly, there were many “good” films, like 99 Homes, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Breathe, and Under the Silver Lake, that turned out “great” as a result of Garfield’s work.

Lions for Lambs is available to stream on Prime Video in the U.S.

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