Good Movie, but . . .

Rating: 7/10 (17 August 2000)

This is a very good, although not great, movie for about 100 minutes, but the events surrounding Lester's death constitute the very definition of triteness. I am a relatively liberal, politically correct guy, but the ending (including the garage scene and the identity of the killer) was banal and was completely against the core of the characters involved. It was in fact such a cheap plot turn that I assumed they director was trying to make a symbolic point: no one bucks discipline forever? Self-hatred can be disguised but never completely contained? None of these seem to apply, leaving us with nothing more than a "wink, wink, we know what the military is *really* like" from the presumably PC scriptwriter/director. A very unstaisfying end to an otherwise absorbing story and performances by Spacey, Bening, and the rest of the outstanding supporting cast.