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Directed by: John Irvin Starring: Ron Eldard, Zak Orth, Frank Whaley, Dylan Bruno I caught this film on Sky and was left with a mixed views of it. The first three quarters of it is excellent quality. The Hurtgen Forest is a Charnel house, however the last act is pure action movie fare and disappoints. The Bloody Bucket division is losing men faster than it can replace them. David Manning wants to go home, he is not afraid of attracting hatred in his attempts to do so. However his survival skills are mistaken by the brasshats for combat ability, he finds himself assuming more and more roles of responsibility. The last thing Dave wants is to be responsible for other people. I was very impressed with Ron Eldards performance as Manning. He is very good at portraying a unsavoury character, who you can't help sympathising with. Martin Donovan is also effective as Captain Pritchett, a man with a heavy burden on his shoulder. The rest of the cast is competent, even Dwight Yoakim as the Colonel. I don't think he is that bad, definately does not deserve the complaints he has received. There are 2 factors that drag this film done. The dialogue, which is a mix of exposition and machismo and the bog standard ending. An example of the exposition "What about the 88's?" "oh the 88 Millimetre cannons" The machismo dialogue is just horrible. As for the ending Manning and a makeshift squad attack 3 German tanks that are holding up the advance, they have no orders to do so! The film ends as it started. If the film had continued in the vein of it's first half, it would have been a masterpiece. As it is the ending is disappointingly predictable. A minor complaint is the use of what look to be Modern MBTs to simulate German tanks. I understand that authentic tanks are hard to get but it would have been nice! Exposure of the tanks is kept to a minimum however. Poor dialogue and a disappointing tacked on ending inhibit this movie from achieving a 4. RATING: 3.5 PROS: Realistic, downbeat, good acting. CONS: Dodgy dialogue, Modern tanks, tacked on ending. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0135706/
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Jul 31, 2004 11:58
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| # ? Apr 27, 2024 08:18 |
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