It's heartbreakingly Awful

Rating: 2/10 (21 December 2004)

Clint Eastwood is one of the most talented people in Hollywood: Acting, Directing, Writing & Producing, he's excelled at them all and truly is "a living legend", so how the hell he came up with this rubbish I don't know? He plays USMC Gunnery Sergeant Tom Highway, hard as nails and vastly experienced but lacking motivation and still haunted by his experiences in The Korean War. His fire gets lit again as he takes over a platoon which has lost all discipline and prepares them for the Greneda invasion, in which he eventually leads them. it's a good idea for a movie but horribly executed. Trust me, every cliché' in the book is used here, from the drunk who finds redemption, to the misfits licked into shape, to the nasty officer who gets his comeupence. That's bad enough but the main reason I hate this film is the portrayal of USMC soldiers. It's actually insulting it's so bad. Marines refusing to obey orders? A Gunnery sergeant fighting (physically) with a Major? A Marine Cpl more interested in a (dire) musical career than The Corps? Never. Not in a million years. I can't understand how an acknowledged patriot like Mr Eastwood could show the United States Marine Corps in such an inaccurate way? Apart from that, the invasion of Greneda was nothing to be proud of. A tiny little island which never had the slightest chance of fighting back. I'm a big fan of Clint Eastwood and I've seen all his movies. This is the only one I would label ROTTEN and, sadly, I give it 2 out of 10. Avoid at all costs.