Baffling

Rating: 3/10 (28 March 2010)

I knew little about this film and saw it on the strength of its Oscar successes. How did they get it so wrong? I am not, nor have ever been in the Army, but the bizarre behavior of these soldiers appeared totally at variance with reality - particularly for a film which was supposedly portraying "real life". Thinking it was just me, I read some user reviews on this site. After reading 12 pages of reviews, I found only 2 positive reviews - how does a 7.9 rating stand up? I will leave the military inaccuracies to others more experienced to comment. I found the film pointless, lacking a coherent message and worst of all boring. The characters were completely unlikable and disengaging. The scenes were disconnected, lacked explanation or context, and left this viewer frustrated. I kept waiting for a plot or a even a point to emerge but was sadly disappointed. Most of the scenes annoyed me but two in particular grated. The first was when a superior officer (who he was and why he was there were not explained) addressed Sgt James after a mission. He praises James at length in a highly sarcastic fashion. I was waiting for James to be then either hit, arrested , abused, or something - but it was all left up in the air. The officer never appeared again - what was all that about? The second scene involved the Army doctor deciding to go out in the field to experience it for himself. Supposedly a US Army Colonel, he sounded a lot more like Peewee Herman. He then gets blown to bits - what a surprise. This is a cliché-ridden, swiss-cheese "plotted", highly irritating film that achieves precisely nothing on any level.