Hollow and devoid of life.

Rating: 2/10 (13 November 2005)

I felt absolutely nothing for these characters. Their lives weren't interesting. There was no real human drama. Perhaps Mendes wanted it to feel cold and sterile. If so, he succeeded. I kept waiting to get wrapped up in these characters the way I did with those in American Beauty, but that moment never came. Maybe I went in expecting a sure thing. I thought Mendes was golden, but he is now brass to me. I was thoroughly disappointed from beginning to end.
Was there a story there? If so, I missed it. A group of severely average people without any complexity at all with a hard-on to kill people. I didn't even feel like I gained an understanding of that war or what it felt like to be there, other than a few well-done visual moments.
I don't know what all the hype is about. 7.5 IMDb rating? People are way too generous here. I got a higher entertainment/enlightenment factor from renting The Amityville Horror remake the night before.