- Trust Weighted
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5Trust Points
BigdaddyDave's Review
Summary - Barely OK 2.0
Bruce Willis leads his Navy Seal team through a dense jungle, and a murky script, in this war/action/thriller film. Willis plays Lt. A.K. Waters, who is forced to choose between obeying his mission orders to rescue a group of American citizens from civil war in the jungles of Nigeria, or lead a group of roughly 50 Nigerian citizens on foot through the mountains to a refugee camp.
While the film boasts dramatic warfare scenes, as Waters team fights off hordes of pursing soldiers, it also aims to portray Waters as being torn in a deep moral decision. Save all the residents, or stick to his orders and rescue just the Americans.
The movie has several problems for me. First off all, Waters does a lot of things that I’m sure wouldn’t be allowed in a real military operation. His character wallows about through the film with a look of frustration on his face, reminiscent of indigestion. And then there’s an unbelievable amount of violence, shooting, rape, and general warfare.
I would say that the movie tries to make itself stand for something really important, and fails. In the end, we have a watered down moral message, saturated with an abundance of war-movie cliches. No bueno.
Watched on Netflix streaming.
Acting - OK 2.5
Willis doesn’t bring his “A” game in this flick. He’s done better.
Male Stars - OK 2.5
Female Stars - OK 2.5
Monica Bellucci plays a stubborn American doctor needing rescue. You would think her character wouldn't be so clueless.Female Costars - OK 2.5
Male Costars - OK 2.5
Tom Skerritt plays the Captain on the aircraft carrier the Seal team is assigned to. He appears to be allowed to make radio calls to his team only from the flight deck as jets take off behind him for effect. You would think a Captain would get an office or command center. The rest of the team achieve a modicum of success as they perform the mission. Nothing remarkable.Film - Barely OK 2.0
Direction - Barely OK 2.0
I take issue with some of things that Antoine Fuqua does with this film. In addition to some of the items noted earlier in this review, Fuqua seems to enjoy filming large portions of this story in semi-darkness, with soldiers with warpaint on their face. At times it was hit or miss trying to figure out what was going on in the murkiness.Dialogue - OK 2.5
Moved along on a decent pace.Music - OK 2.5
Visuals - Barely OK 2.0
What I could see was ok. Lush jungles, and spectacular landscape. Decent pyrotechnics.Edge - Sordid 3.0
Sex Titillating 1.9
Violence Savage 4.4
Rudeness Profane 2.7
Reality - Glib 2.0
Circumstantial - Surreal 2.4
Again, I have doubts that highly trained team would do some of the things in this film.Biological - Surreal 2.2
If you get shot, and keep getting shot, most medical journals would say that you would die. Not get up and keep going.Physical - Glib 1.5
2 Comments
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BigdaddyDave Mar 12, 2011 7:43PM
Yeah, I really had high hopes, and it ended up disappointing me.
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Wick Mar 12, 2011 7:22PM
Regarding BigdaddyDave’s Review
Pity that such a great cast was wasted. As for Antoine Fuqua, he nailed it with Training Day and hasn’t come close again.