Awful, seriously awful.

Rating: 1/10 (28 July 2017)

When I saw the reviews of this movie I was expecting another great war movie. Most war movies are excellent, they contain great story lines and somehow they can move you in a way other movies simply can't. Except this one.
I know it is based on a true story and I'm not saying it didn't happen. But come on.. Everything in this movie is extremely exaggerated. It's only written to appeal to your patriotism and make Americans look like heroes. It's directed by Mel Gibson, so that explains most of it. I seriously was considering turning the movie off, but as the reviews were so good I was hoping there would be a twist of some kind. There wasn't..
A lot of scenes are just simply annoying. I'm not saying the directing is bad. The action scenes are excellent and the actors are pretty good. But there are just too many instances that really grind your gears as a neutral movie watcher. We've all seen it before and making up your lack of dialog skills with lots of blood and violence just doesn't cut it for me.
The ending is the worst of all. The Asian guys pretend to surrender, but then all of a sudden start throwing grenades. This movie hero guy smashes one grenade like a tennis ball (where the hell did it go) and kicks another grenade like a football (wow!). I bet he didn't tell Mel that. He just gets a scratch and of course the Americans win the battle. Then you see the Japanese commanders in their bunker after they have lost the battle. They decide to pick up their machetes and all of them commit suicide by stabbing themselves with their own machetes. Right.. I don't like Mel Gibson so maybe I'm a bit biased, but I didn't know he directed it until they showed it at the end. Before I knew Mel Gibson directed it I already thought it was a poor movie, after I found out Mel Gibson directed it everything fell into place.
If you're looking to feel patriotic and see anther American hero in the war, this is your cup of tea. If you want to watch a great war movie, skip this one. I seriously don't understand why the rating's so high. Probably a lot of Americans rated this movie and just couldn't handle not liking it.