beautiful

Rating: Null/10 (6 May 2001)

hello When I saw this film at the cinema when it first came out I didn't really enjoy it too much. Despite being beautifully shot I thought it was disjointed and rather pretentious. However I decided to watch it again and have changed my mind totally. This is a fantastic film. of course it is not perfect, but it wears it's flaws on it's sleeve and is all the better for it. Any comparisons between this and Saving Private Ryan, good or bad, are totally irrelevant. They are different films, SPR is a cracking piece of entertainment, with a blunt message, showing you the physical horrors of war, whilst TTRL is more of an exploration of the mental side of war. Soldiers ruminations and the disjointed nature add to the poetic feeling of this film. The cinematography is superb, the action scenes are taught and tense, the acting is magnificent, particularly the scene after ($possible spoiler$) the 7 men have cleared the Japanese bunker, and Ben Chaplin realises what has just happened, and the look on John Cusacks face when Nick Nolte tells him he doesnt know what its like to be passed over, is superb. One problem I do have though is the voice-overs, I found it very difficult to work out what they were saying, particularly Nick Nolte. they all seemed to speak in this low gravelly slurred tone making it difficult the make out what they were saying. Another thing that annoys me is the pretentious comments that this film seems to inspire. A kind of snobbery "I understand this movie and I'm going to write about it in a high brow style to show you that I 'know'". Anyway give this film a chance, dont be cynical like I was when I first saw it and just enjoy it. Although I'm sure it's not to everyones taste.