"I'm here to tell you all that life as you know it has ended."

Rating: 7/10 (8 August 2018)

I'm a big Clint Eastwood fan but there was something about this film that just felt off to me. I've never served in the military, but my son served in the Marines and simply based on some of his boot camp stories I could tell that the kind of recon platoon that Gunnery Sergeant Highway (Eastwood) encountered on his first day back would never have existed in real life. So early on, one has to view the story as one in which all the stereotypes apply, as Eastwood's character takes on the mission of whipping his boys into shape while challenging the arrogance and ineptitude of his superior officers. Malcolm Powers (Everett McGill) looked and acted like someone who could have been a Marine Major, but the portrayal of Lieutenant Ring (Boyd Gaines) seemed to come out of left field. He just seemed totally out of his element.
Then, when the action shifted to actual combat during the invasion of Grenada, the film really took on an air of incredulity. With a population of about ninety one thousand at the time, it felt like there was no one else on the island except the Marines and a minor opposing force of revolutionary soldiers. There were the American medical students of course, about the only thing that felt accurate historically.
This wasn't Clint Eastwood's first directorial effort, so I can't really account for the movie's lack of authenticity. One's best approach to the picture probably ought to be one of settling back and suspending disbelief, and enjoy the story as any another Eastwood actioner. I did get a big kick out of the Gunny quote to his new platoon that I mention in my summary line above. I had a boss in the supermarket business that would state "I'm here to tell you..." at least a couple of times in every speech he ever gave.