not the best ever by a long shot

Rating: Null/10 (22 December 1998)

Some filmgoers have short memories when they praise the latest candied-over anti-war-message film as the "best ever". For raw brutal honesty in imaginative film-making what about "Full Metal Jacket" or "Apocalyse Now" or "The Deerhunter" or "Platoon" to mention just a few of the recent entries for best ever. And what about still best of all "All Quiet on the Western Front" (issued 68 years ago in 1930 based on Erich Marie Remarque's novel). All of these better than Spielberg's "Saving P.R. that with his eye as ever more keenly on the box office than on telling the truth he mars with the sentimental patriotism that he laces into it as a hedge on what might not be the overwhelming popularity of his anti-war theme.