No "Full Metal Jacket", but more than OK

Rating: 7/10 (30 June 2005)

Next to the Second World War, the Vietnam War is probably the most popular one by the film makers. There have been made several excellent Vietnam movies (think for instance of "Apocalypse Now", "The Deer Hunter", "Platoon",...) and that sometimes makes me doubt if there is still room for one more. But there are of course many aspects that haven't been shown too often yet and one of those is the training. The only movie that has focused on the training before is "Full Metal Jacket", Stanley Kubrick's version of the Vietnam war and I guess that's the best movie to compare this one with.
"Tigerland" shows how a platoon of recruits arrives in Ft. Polk for infantry training before leaving for war. The war has almost been lost and many try to avoid being send over there, but before it even gets that far they will have to get through their final week which takes place in Tigerland, a swamp similar to Vietnam. One of the recruits is Roland Bozz. He keeps getting into trouble and being thrown in jail because of his rebellious behavior, but he also gets a lot of respect from his comrades as he helps misfits to get discharges. And even though he has some leadership capacities, not everybody likes him. One sociopath in his platoon will try to get rid of him, making "Tigerland" almost as dangerous as the war itself...
What I missed most about this movie were the actual battle scenes. You only get to see the training, but you don't know how they manage in Vietnam. Will they be able to survive, who gets killed or wounded,... nothing of that can be found in the movie and that's also the main reason why I have some difficulties with calling this a war movie.
However, that doesn't mean that this movie isn't any good. This movie has plenty of good things to offer so you'll stay interested until the last moment. Despite the lack of many known names, the acting certainly is worth noticing. Colin Farrell is probably the best-known, but the other actors certainly don't have to be ashamed of what they did in this movie either. Overall this movie certainly isn't as good as "Full Metal Jacket", but as a character study it isn't bad. Thanks to the good acting, this movie overcomes the lack of a larger story and makes it more than OK to fill an hour and a half with. I give this movie a score between 7/10 and 7.5/10.