Every once in awhile comes a war movie that really has something to say about war and the people who fight it. That movie isn't The Hurt Locker, which is more concerned with suspenseful mini-movies than in anything else. Sure, there are some throwaway scenes about how war fucks men up psychologically, but every war movie has those scenes. What this film needs is a narrative.It bounces from mission to mission, and though some of these scenes are quite impressive in staging and suspense (a desert sniper attack featuring Ralph Fiennes stands out), there is not much in the way of connective tissue. As a result, the scenes of ordinance disposal grow repetitive. We've all scene bomb-diffusing scenes in movies: they don't get more interesting just because the characters are in fatigues.
I wanted to really like this film. Everybody else seems to, calling it a "full-tilt action movie" and "a nearly perfect film", amongst other raves. Well, it isn't really an action movie, it's a war suspense drama, and if you want a perfect film, you should probably watch The Godfather or something by Wes Anderson. This movie is deeply flawed, and to tell the truth, now that I've seen it, I have no desire to ever see it again, which I guess is all you really need to know.
The acting is great, the suspense palpable in certain scenes, but ultimately there's just nothing there. The movie means nothing. A story would have really helped.
2 comments:
So I don't know where to throw the questions now. So here we go on this post.
Jack White's new label and band, what have you heard? Anything good going on there? I expect probably too much from him and the label. How about you?
I always intended them to be sent to my email address, but folks seem to have a hard time with that.
You can go to the website of The Dead Weather and listen to a few tracks there. It also sounds totally awesome.
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