Robert Redford’s three-pronged discussion of the Afghanistan conflict may have been heavy-handed and preachier than Sorkin on a bad day, but in a cast that included Redford, Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep, it was Andrew Garfield who gathered the most positive attention. He plays a frat boy who’s a student of Redford’s college professor, when Redford challenges Garfield’s disaffected and disengaged stance on the world. It’s a multi-layered performance here: on the surface, Garfield is all surfer-boy mannerisms and casual jocularity, but it’s clear that there’s a keen mind ticking underneath, and as he challenges Redford’s stance, the movie very nearly works. Had it just been these two arguing for two hours, we might have been on to something. In the becoming-a-star playbook, stealing a movie from under the noses of more established names is always a key move.