W (15) Drama Starring Josh Brolin and James Cromwell OLIVER Stone has cultivated a reputation as the bruiser of modern cinema.

He portrayed the turmoil of the war in Vietnam in Platoon, Born On The Fourth Of July, Heaven & Earth), savaged his fellow Americans' relentless pursuit of wealth (Wall Street), satirised the glamorisation of violence (Natural Born Killers) and remembered one of the United States's darkest days (World Trade Center).

Stone has focused in part on the influence of the political establishment, with memorable portraits of John F Kennedy and Richard Nixon. Now, as George W Bush bids farewell to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the film-maker offers his most intriguing feature yet.

W sketches his rise to power from the mid-1960s to the present day. Sweeping to power in controversial fashion, Bush – in his early years a disappointment to despairing father George Bush Sr (Cromwell – faces some of the USA’s toughest challenges.

Timed neatly, W is a surprisingly affectionate portrait of a man who changed the course of world events, not necessarily for the better. It focuses largely on George's desire to escape from his father's shadow.

Ultimately, W tells us very little about its subject that we don't already know, glossing over some of his darkest hours, including the drinking.This film could and perhaps should have been so much more.

3 out of 5 stars