okay movie

Rating: 5/10 (21 March 2001)

This was an okay movie. It looked very good and the direction was well done, but it just seemed a bit trite to really push it beyond the average.
The story was pretty lame, and all through the movie you get beaten over the head with morals and messages about how war is bad and peace is good. The big battle scene in the beginning starts out well but by the end it becomes a case of "yes, we all know war is bad. Could you get on with the movie now?".
The characters seem pretty false and boring. They have the usual hollywood moments (when they want tension they make the characters yell a lot, when they want a big cathardic climax they have string music and a short, "deep" sentence) which make it seem less a serious work and more a money-making device that uses "tricks of the trade" to make audiences think they are watching a good movie.
And all the jingoistic flag-waving was a bit monotonous ( i don't think American filmmakers realise how scarily fanatical it makes Americans look). And the total absence of any other allied country in the picture was notable.
It looks good but has no real depth or substance, and hence no real credibility when it claims to be the greatest war movie of our time.