war kitsch

Rating: 6/10 (8 July 2003)

The thin red line of seriousness.
After all these enthusiastic comments I feel the necessity to
support the viewers who disliked this movie. I'm mid 30 and I've
seen a whole lot of action - and especially war films. But sorry
guys - this was a real stinker. I was looking forward for Sean Penn
and John Cusack, but they all spoke these badly written dialogs of
significance and unbelievable importance. Was is meant as
serious poetry comes to me as sticky kitschy attempts to produce
"the other", the sensitive war movie. The music supports this -
sorry- cheapness. Well, understand me right: From early
black/white to arthouse and from John Woo to Woody Allen - I like
a big range of films. I'm a friend of looong epic movies and I do not
need hammer action at all to call a good movie a good movie, but I
need more than 5 or 6 good written scenes to fill such a long film
with REAL drama. As some guys mentioned before, I too could not
care much for the characters - although the acting was fine as
expected (Koteas! Nolte! Penn). It's badly written (perfect for enemies of meaningful off-voices!). But
it's up to you to give it a try anyway. Do NOT expect a classic
masterpiece (like Apocalypse Now or Full Metal Jacket). 6/10