About midway through the documentary, Tucker Carlson asks "Is it more brilliant and impressive to influence world events, or to stand on the periphery of world events and yet get recorded as having influenced world events."
While he was referring specifically to Roger Stone's self-proclaimed crucial role in getting George W. Bush elected in 2000, Carlson's question could apply to almost every major moment in Stone's life.
Unfortunately, the documentary does not question whether Stone is actually a major figure in American politics, but rather, takes Stone at his word that he is. Thus the documentary isn't so much a look at Stone's life as much as it is a look at Stone taking credit for everything - especially the ascendancy of Donald Trump to the Presidency.
Donald Trump is the supporting actor of this documentary, second fiddle to Roger Stone, who is seemingly the mastermind of his entire candidacy. The problem, however, lies in the film's inability to provide much supporting evidence that Stone is really as important as he claims to be.
For example, there are montages which show Stone saying something on a radio show followed by Trump saying the same thing on the campaign trail. But, we are never given much context for these clips. Is Trump repeating Stone or is Stone repeating Trump? Is Stone the only one making these campaign talking points that Trump is repeating, or are others as well? Without context, these lingering ambiguities make it more difficult to conclude that Stone was a major player in the Trump candidacy.
Additionally, Stone is given such an out sized role in the Trump candidacy that other crucial members of the Trump campaign - specifically, Steve Bannon and Kellyanne Conway - are barely mentioned. And while there is no doubt Trump did associate with Stone, the extent to which Stone helped elect Trump beyond securing the vote of the Alex Jones/InfoWars audience remains questionable.
The documentary is well-made and offers much in the way of flash and bedazzle, primarily due to its flamboyant and outrageous star, but it offers little of actual substance. In a sense, the documentary itself has been co opted by Stone for his own benefit to make sure, as Tucker Carlson said, that he is at least recorded as having influenced world events. Whether he has or not, remains a mystery unexplored by the documentary.
