This made me feel like an airhead

Rating: 1/10 (14 May 2020)

SYNOPSIS:
A psychological study of operations desert shield and desert storm during the gulf war; through the eyes of a U.S marine sniper who struggles to cope with the possibility his girlfriend may be cheating on him back home.
REVIEW:
Just like Shot Caller, I struggled to figure out how to explain the film so I put IMDB's synopsis. It's really as boring as it sounds. I think they tried to spice it up a little by adding a "psychological study" but I really didn't get that. I got it for two intense scenes that was the best part of the film between Swofford (Jake Gyllenhaal) and another character that I don't remember and can't find on IMDB to reference. The short review of this film is that I didn't care about any of the characters. That may sound harsh also being that it's a war film, but there wasn't enough pathos in the film or any relationships that connected me. Dunkirk does the same thing, but captures the army as a whole that makes you feel atmosphere and sucks you in with the others. This went the route of trying to connect to a group of soldiers and it falls flat. Apparently, Swofford and another character named Troy (Peter Sarsgaard) we're very connected to each other that you find out at the end and I had absolutely no clue that they liked each other in any way. I thought they hated each other. I was so confused as to what the emotional connection was supposed to be. I also thought the acting from Sarsgaard was quite poor. There's one scene in a snipers tower that I liked with him, but that scene also made no real sense and seemed to only be in there to have some sort of conflict in this bland and slow film. There's very little good in this film for me, but if you've seen it and enjoy it, well that's what film is all about. I personally would recommend watch Sam Mendes's 2019 film "1917" over this as well as every other war film that's been made. 1.4/10.