Just what the world needs: Another US war/torture porn epic

Rating: 1/10 (12 January 2008)

Let's not be too harsh on the novel that inspired this abomination. The result would have been the same if it had been an adaptation of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" in the hands of those filmmakers. Just like the benighted citizens of Ancient Rome amused themselves by watching human beings dismembered for their enjoyment in the arena while the rest of the world burned in a conflagration they had started but didn't know how to stop, today's Americans love nothing more (apparently) than to collectively cuddle up to tales of squalor, gratuitous blood spilling, dehumanized killing, torture and various acts of degradation and wanton barbarity. What distinguishes this little effort from the mainstream snuff porn you can rent at your local sex shop is that the values of womanhood, motherhood and vaginahood are raised on a pedestal on an equal footing with apple pie while all men (i.e. walking phalluses) are portrayed as anti-feminist pigs. For two and a half hours, the spectator is kept in perpetual suspense as to how his/her gag reflex is going to be stimulated next. This passes for art in the United States these days. And it wins Oscars and a lot of moolah for Mr. Weinstein. And, apparently, even the US matriarchy loves it!