Disappointing

Rating: Null/10 (2 November 2001)

I have read the book by James Jones at least three times since I bought it in the seventies and each time I was rivetted by this engrossing, straightforward story of a company of men involved in a battle in a particularly brutal theatre of war in WW2. When the movie came out with all the usual ballyhoo of a big production I decided to see it but never actually got round to doing so until I rented it on video a few days ago.

Movies are seldom as good as the books they are based on, but I was hoping that this would at least approach the book. I was very disappointed. There were, at various points during the three hours of the film, some exciting battle scenes, but there was far too much time taken up with self indulgent photography, long boring sequences during which nothing much happened, and muttered pretentious pseudo-philosophical monologues, none of which contributed to the enjoyment of the movie. The US Army and Marines fought a particularly hard battle in the Pacific in WW2 but it had to be done, and they did it as efficiently as they knew how. All that "what is war for?" drivel should be reserved for movies about Vietnam, which was a different war altogether.
This movie was a waste of a good story.