Disappointing

Rating: 5/10 (23 July 2009)

Directed by, and starring Clint Eastwood, of whom I have been a fan on either side of the camera; I have to say that I was extremely disappointed with his work here.
It is formulaic to the point of prescription. I don't think I see any scene in this movie that I haven't seen elsewhere. An already quite clearly ageing Eastwood is far too old for the part. He just sleep-walks his way through the role of a grizzled platoon leader, out to whup some misfits into shape. The humour is entirely predictable. The jokes come trudging-up with the inevitability of an old soldier, when they really ought to have faded away. There's the inevitable personal conflicts, a little bit of love-interest in the form of a female bar-keeper, and so on. Even the combat sequences are pretty stagy, with unimaginative location-work.
I've watched it two or three times, now. Each time I wonder if I fell asleep or something and missed the good stuff. But not so; it's exactly what it is: a completely formulaic military vehicle, but one in which the wheels don't actually fall off; they were never fitted in the first place.
Shame on you Clint. Though your other stuff's made up for it.