almost too strong at times

Rating: 6/10 (9 November 2010)

The latest in a now long line of post-Vietnam War flashbacks is suitably intense and horrific, but suffers from a major drawback: it's all been seen before. Director Brian De Palma nevertheless brings a professional sheen to the film, adding a note of urgency to the already shocking story of the kidnap and gang rape of a Vietnamese girl by battle-scarred American GIs, acting out their most primitive instincts beyond the jurisdiction of any moral restraint. David Rabe's screenplay was based on an actual incident, which shows in the weak resolution: the punishment (prison terms) doesn't fit the brutality of the crime. De Palma's direction is always at its best when he isn't, as usual, aping Alfred Hitchcock, but this film is almost too strong at times: it's easy to read the story as a microcosm of the war and of the fate of the Vietnamese people, but that doesn't make it any less difficult to sit through. Michael J. Fox handles himself well playing the only soldier with a conscience, and Sean Penn obviously enjoyed taking advantage of the opportunity to further refine his Robert De Niro imitation.