Not impressed

Rating: 7/10 (27 May 2010)

I didn't know much about this going into it, other than that two people whose opinions I hold in high regard had described it to me as pro-US propaganda. Having seen it, I agree with them. To my knowledge, there is no historical record of Russian Roulette occurring during the Vietnam war. I understand that the people behind this argue that "well, no one knows for sure". Is it that hard to admit "we made it up for cinematic effect"? That's allowed, you know; you're not making a documentary. But if that's what they're going with, allow me to counter: We *do* know that American troops engaged in atrocities including massacres. I'm not saying that their behaviour came out of nowhere(which is not to say that it can be excused under any circumstances, at most it can be explained). However, if you're going to make something up that puts the other side in a negative light, you ought to also show some of the unflattering truth about yourself. I won't claim that this is poorly done from a technical standpoint, or that the performances are bad. That is all I can say of good things about this. It is an abusively long and boring piece that at no point captured my interest. I wasn't missing explosions, a clear-cut hero or a moral; merely for stuff to get me to find it worth the time(and yes, I do love several 3 hour pictures). Someone to care about(other than Streep). Early on, I could barely tell anyone apart; they're all drunk and behaving like morons. I couldn't like any of them in the least. These obnoxious characters have sudden, instant changes of heart at apparently random times. The pacing is uneven with jolting cuts. This is shot entirely on location(no sets), and the sound-side is great. It "feels" real. I gotta say, between this, Year of the Dragon and *Desperate Hours*, I've about given up on Cimino. There is plenty of strong language(also a little in the informational and subtitled commentary by the director and a film critic), a bit of bloody violence and brief male nudity in this. The 2-Disc Special Edition DVD comes with aforementioned audio track, three interviews(that I will review on their individual pages here on the site) and a 7 minute photo gallery, coming to 57 minutes total, as it says on the cover. I recommend this to... I honestly don't know. Evidently, a lot of people love this, and hey, maybe I just don't see what they do in it. Personally, I'd go for Platoon or Full Metal Jacket instead of this. I can't determine who this movie is for. 7/10