actually it's a pretty good war movie

Rating: 7/10 (22 January 2015)

I wasn't that keen on Bradley Cooper's acting chops (I got turned off in American Hustle) but he redeemed himself in this movie and was very believable in this role. Elise Robertson put in a good effort but it wasn't one of those transcendent performances like we saw from Ahney Her in Gran Torino or Sandra Oh in Sideways... it was okay but a little shallow in my book.
As I said, it was a pretty good war movie and, you know, the good guys won on the battlefield but lost in regular society.The theme of PTSD has been dealt with in a whole bunch of other movies, this one didn't give us any more clues as to how to recognise or deal with it.
The simple truth is that you can't put a man straight back into the normal world without some sort of formal training, just as you can't put him into the world of blood and guts without preparation. Nevertheless they continue to do it at both ends of the seesaw.
Whenever I watch these types of movies I'm always appalled at the stupidity of men (either soldiers or cops) walking into buildings thinking that a gun in their hands can save them from a guy waiting on the other side of the door with a bucking big fazooka. Not only that, but what are they doing in these crap hole cities where there's nothing but crumbling buildings and garbage strewn across every street, why not wait outside the city gates until they've all polished each other off? They don't seem to care who they kill, as long as it's someone. From the aerial shots they give you, the cities are usually in some sandy wasteland with only a couple of roads in and out. Why not just lay siege and wait for them to surrender. Geez if you did that in Vancouver they'd give up in a couple of hours 'cos they couldn't get their Lattes... but I digress. It's good Clint Eastwood stuff and he hasn't failed to entertain me so far. This is on the far edge of entertainment,pushing into unsettlement, therefore a movie that makes you think .....and movies like that are worth watching. cheers Billc