Technically excellent - but flawed.

Rating: Null/10 (29 October 2002)

Well, I have just seen it on rental.
I remember the reviews... Did I expect a glorious presentation of the way America fights battles? - a sort of 'We teach the World - OK?' kind of movie? Or a 'We f****ed up - we all learnt' kind of moral tale?

Well it wasn't either of these. I'm still not quite sure what it was...
The fear/desperation/futility was clearly there - men dying, men fearing death, equipment & lives lost to careless errors and ignorant leadership. It is certainly a war movie, like Platoon and Full Metal Jacket. It is actually anti-war - but not simply putting flowers in gun barrels - it is about real life and death.
Just who were the people they caught? Stooges? Warlords? On my copy the credits were too small to see - and besides most people would have left by the time they came up.
How many of the 19 deaths resulted because 'We don't leave anyone behind'??? Is this really the way war is fought by America? If so - be afraid - be VERY afraid. How do you score a result against the Satan USA? Hit a few of their men - the others will be sure to come back to get them - even if it is only bodies. It is better to claim bodies and lose more than it is to cut losses and get out? `Well, Mrs Robinson, I can tell you that we got your son's body out, we are proud of that. Excuse me if I don't stay to chat, but the parents of the 20 people that died getting him out are here too...'
I know this isn't an artistic point - but hey, your enemies watch these films too! I don't have reason to doubt that this is what happened - but it spoilt the film for me.
As for characters in the film - well, my Blue Burmese cat has far more character. By the time the grunt with the photo of his family died I had no idea if he was a pilot, crew member, a cameraman or whatever. The moment in the film that conveyed the most to me was of a Somalian carrying his injured infant son across the line of sight. This is real life in war. This is what war does. This is what we would be doing if war came here.

I really have no idea how to rate the film... 5, 6, 7, 8, 9? I'll have to come back later to do that!