Tell It To The Marines!

Rating: Null/10 (4 October 2001)

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this film. I agree with the side that hates it, and I agree, with reservations, with the right-wingers who love it. Let's start with what I don't like. Sure, Jackson and Jones are both strong, honest, and intense in their roles. But honestly, haven't we seen them in the same roles a few times too often already? The film is also very predictable and by the numbers. There's really nothing in this story line that hasn't already been done a hundred times before in different movies of the week, paperback novels, stage plays, TV episodes... There are a couple of good performances in this film, though. Ben Kingsley is compelling as always. How he manages to save his work even in terrible films(remember "Species?") is a reminder to actors that a bad film doesn't mean you have to do bad work. Guy Pierce is also strong as the prosecution lawyer making his case against Jackson. Even though you know he's going to lose(come on, is that really a spoiler? Did you really think Samuel L Jackson was going to go to jail by the end of the movie?), Pierce fights like hell to prove his point. And it is a strong point. The trouble is, both those roles are underused. And as the story between Jackson and Jones goes on, I really wanted to know more about Kingsley and Pierce, and what they were thinking. I never found out, though. What tipped my thumb up on this film, then? The combat sequences and Captain Dale Dye, USMC. Dye is the leader of a movie-combat group called Warriors, Inc. A Vietnam veteran himself, he choreographed the combat scenes in "Platoon," "Forrest Gump" and "Saving Private Ryan," among others. And his work in the massacre sequence made the whole movie work for me. It's realistic and very frightening to watch, especially considering the times we live in, and that American troops in Afghanistan will be in situations just like this. Or worse, horrible as that thought may be. Is it propaganda? Yes. But that's Hollywood. Is it mediocre? Yes. But again, that's Hollywood, mostly. Is it irrelevant? No. Watch the combat scene, take your problems with it, and tell it to the Marines.