Don't Be Fooled

Rating: Null/10 (4 June 2001)

While this movie attempts to masquerade as another world-weary "war is hell" film, it's nothing more than a rehash of the hundreds of other movies just like it. You've got the guy who goes psycho in boot camp ("Full Metal Jacket"), the sadistic guy who only wants to kill ("Full Metal Jacket", "Platoon", and even "Universal Soldier"), and on and on.

The performances are, for the most part, rather solid. But the whole project is undermined by the direction of Joel Schumacher, whose directorial style is blatant homo-erotica. If you've ever seen a Schumacher film, this shouldn't surprise you. It's the same story as "Batman and Robin" (hard rubber nipples, anyone?) or "Apt Pupil" (which added a new dimension of pedophilia to his style). If you get off on watching guys walk around naked, this is definitely your director.