hard to rate

Rating: 7/10 (11 October 2012)

the first 30 minutes of boot camp are brilliant: concise, stunningly edited, swept forward by an immaculate performance by novice r. lee erme; the tightness of the action and dialogue blows away mediocre camera work; there are no David lean moments; but hard to rate because once they are in country, modine turns smart ass, and full-bird colonels turn into idiotic, overage morons who look as though they have never picked up a shovel much less a rifle, i.e. it gets anti-war preachy with way too much tongue in cheek; after that,for me, it's downhill, despite some well done fights; lost its initial tightness and clarity; i'd give that first part a 10 no problem, the way too snarky follow-on a 4