Good Or Bad ?

Rating: 6/10 (24 February 2003)

The opening scenes of TIGERLAND with army recruits being screamed at by NCOs are very reminiscent of FULL METAL JACKET . In fact the more TIGERLAND goes on the more you`ll be reminded of PLATOON , SPR , SOUTHERN COMFORT etc . This is by no means an original film . That said TIGERLAND does have some impressive aspects like the performances . If you don`t know this already let me point out that Colin Farrell is from Dublin in Ireland . It`s impossible to not notice this in real life as he talks in an almost indecipherable Irish brouge . Here however he`s utterly convincing as Bozz a reluctant recruit from Texas . Likewise the director Joel Schumacher directs with immense skill making the film look like a fly on the wall documentary . In fact I often forget that this was a feature film and I was watching something that actually took place . Oh and this is the same Joel Schumacher who directed BATMAN and ROBIN . Yup
The script is rather strange however . It rightly points out the unpopularity of the Vietnam war and how the American army was totally demoralised by it in 1971 . By this time American officers and NCOs were in as much danger of being fragged by their own men than by the enemy and there were almost as many servicemen being treated for opium poisoning in South East Asia than were treated for battlefield wounds , but this leads to a major plothole : Why are so many Americans still accepting the draft when they don`t want to ? I do notice that Bozz takes the part of a barrack room lawyer and allows some of these extremely reluctant recruits to be exempted which means they don`t have to emigrate or look over their shoulder on the run from the draft but it`s almost as if they knew they`d be meeting Bozz at boot camp . Doesn`t this strike you as hopelessly contrived ? And I`m very confused as to why Bozz wants to stay in the army since he doesn`t want to be there either
All in all TIGERLAND is a success down to its rising star and director . But be warned if you`re a lover of blood and guts war films you`ll be rather disappointed and ironically if you hate war films you`ll also hate this too