Mixed Reactions

Rating: 8/10 (24 November 2019)

After watching this film a couple of time now I have raised my initial rating. At first I didn't like it at all. The overall plot, effects and direction were great but it has flaws. The biggest is that the female characters appear to have been written for male actors and they simply used a female cast to play them. The characters are also stereotyped and culture-typed. Regardless of the fact the cast is female it has all the usual characters of a buddy war film. I get the idea that a woman can be or do anything a male character can but feel this movie would have been better served leaving the gender politics out. Also, the film fails to clearly answer any of the questions raised to any satisfying degree. It left me wanting to know more, much more about what happened. FYI - searching out the book series and even reading the wiki about them helped me get more out of it. And lastly, I enjoyed it. And did more the second time I watched it. So it's in my regular "to watch" list. My best advice is to familiarize yourself with the book plots before watching. It will definitely help.