gritty but schmaltzy

Rating: 6/10 (2 March 2002)

This movie had all the ingredients to be a great war movie. It had a great cast, good direction, all the gore you could want, and it attempted to make you love the soldiers on the field of war. Heck, the movie even surprised me a couple of times, using clever misdirection, and the under use of Chris Klein. (thank god, that line "Don't worry sir..." could be the worst preview line of all time it was so badly acted) However the movie tried to use the soldiers' wives as the conduit to our emotions. Talk about a terrible failure. Not only did this move drag the watcher out of the movie flow, it made the action on the field seem fake, and not quite as important. Not only that, the cut scenes were placed badly, trying to be full of suspense, but just ending up being aggravating. Go ahead and see this movie, lots will probably love it, but this movie lacked a fire, you'll see what I mean.