Long and Gory

Rating: 2/10 (6 October 2002)

While Saving Private Ryan was nearly perfect this film adds firefight to firefight until you get numb.What's the meaning of it? War stinks, and people shoot at invaders?
The story in short: a hundred US troops tries to beat a few beat thousand well-trained, well-armed and highly motivated irregulars in a back alley war and it goes sadly wrong, as espected. It can never be successful, unless you erase the city.
Alas UN and US troops didn't (for the sake of the tens of thousands of non-combatants in the city) and we all know the sad consequences it had.
This film is one of many that has a good intent, but by trying to be true gets bogged down in reality's repetitive character. War stinks, and will always stink, no matter if your operating a man-to-man combat war or a push-button war, where things are remotely controlled - people still get their bowels blown up.
Even though hundreds of skilled actors, stuntmen and cinematic wizards helped making this film it doesn't tell us anything new - and it isn't that good at telling it either: Harrison's Flower is a masterpiece in comparison, and that film's story is still just as brutal and as scary, but so much better told.Go see it instead!