More of the same old Clint...

Rating: 2/10 (19 December 2004)

Made during the Reagan years, Heartbreak Ridge was designed to appeal to the ruling administration's conservative values, maybe to acquire official approval, but certainly not to deny the odd buck or two. As movies go, it's neither the worst nor the best, rather a repeat of the Eastwardeque formula witnessed in Every Which Way But Loose, only this time in a proud US military tradition.
Eastwood comes across as a convincing hard-nosed gunnery sergeant. But the role demands little extra than the Philo Biddo persona - cussing, fighting and generally resisting the rules whenever it suits.
However, while Eastwood's role convinces, the other characters are simply cardboard cutout clichés - the mouthy recruits, the disappointed ex-wife, the long-suffering confidante, the antagonistic Major. The plot could've been lifted directly from a third instalment of the "Every Which Way But..." and dropped into Dispersed Pattern Material cammies.
There's little in the way of true story progress except that a bunch of spoilt recruits become "real soldiers" - watch the Granada battle-scenes and make up your own mind if this comes off as a convincing military drama. Highway barely develops as an individual, except to retire. He experiences no epiphany or growth.
One could be excused for believing this is a serious attempt at examining the life of a Vietnam veteran in the modernising US Marines, lost somewhere in the past and unable to accept the loss of compatriots on Heartbreak Ridge (of the title), but simply because it doesn't portray the deliberate infantile revenge-plot of movies such as Rambo and Commando; however, Heartbreak Ridge is a poor example of an authentic military story. It's a vehicle of the Clint Eastwood film-studios instead.