War

“That’s the bravest damn thing I think I’ve ever seen.”

Director Roland Emmerich is no stranger to big-screen battles. The difference is that up until this year those battles have been against aliens, huge climactic changes, or giant lizards named Godzilla. There’s no question that he understands how to shoot epic confrontation. The question I had going in to Midway was, can he deliver a battle that wasn’t fiction? After nearly tow and a half hours, the answer came back somewhat mixed. This isn’t the first time that the Battle of Midway has been brought to the big screen. In the 1970’s Charlton Heston gave us a film that was more renowned for the trendy Sensurround gimmick than it was for the drama that unfolded on the screen. Sensurround was a fancy name for huge subs that would shake the theater, and if you were lucky enough to be seeing the film at a theater with enough money to go all the way, you might have found yourself in a seat that was wired to shake, rattle, and roll. Today the chains call that Dolby. This Midway didn’t lend itself to some William Castle hustle. It’s all up on the screen. The film bears no relation to that earlier effort except for the legendary battle in the Pacific that turned the tide of the Pacific theater of World War II toward the Allies. The film actually shares more in common with the classic Tora Tora Tora in that we spend a good deal of screen time with the Japanese players in the battle. Not at all like the earlier gimmick film, this movie is intended to place you squarely in the middle of the action. If that’s what you came to see, you are certainly in for an immersive experience, only without the hot-wired seat.
Read More

This is yet another war film that is “based on true events”.  Considering how long troops have been over in Afghanistan, it’s no surprise how many films seem to be coming out about the subject.  I’ll admit going into this film I didn’t exactly have high hopes, but I’m pleased to say not only did the film not disappoint; I found myself actually enjoying it. Granted this is no 1917, but it’s definitely better than the dumpster fire film that I reviewed about a month ago called D-Day.  The Kill Team follows new recruit Andrew Briggman (Nat Wolff), who is wide-eyed and ready to see combat, but once he is confronted with the very human side of the war that the troops are facing, well, his conscience begins to weigh him down, and things only get more complicated for him as his time in Afghanistan stretches on.  From the start, the film seems to have a very idealistic view on how the soldiers can and should act, and it’s this “moral compass” that gets in the way of telling the story.  When it comes to war films that delve into the cruelty that occurs, you can’t let morals dictate the story. It’s the equivalent of doing a western where the bad guy wears the black hat and the good guy wears white.  Sure, you’re spelling it out for your audience, but when depicting real life, it’s never quite that easy to tell wrong from right.
Read More