mediocre attempt at a war movie

Rating: 5/10 (17 May 2005)

This film might have been considered something good if it had come out in the early 80s along side chuck norris movies like invasion USA and the Iron Eagle series, because that is about where this thing ranks.
All modern war movies such as the thin red line, saving private ryan and Band of Brothers all very accurately portray the true horror that is war, and deliver not only in the graphic sense but also in the physical sense by adhering strictly to reality, everything about the battle sequences is fake, the blood looks fake, the opening sequence is laughable, each grenade and artillery shell explodes like a molotov cocktail (real ones don't), the artillery guns are firing black powder to make clouds of pretty smoke for the cameras (real ones don't) and the guns are noticeably hydraulically powered for their recoil after firing. Instead of a war movie it looks more like something out of robocop. the trivia line showing on the main page says that for this movie that they brought in genuine WWII radios to make it more real... well I wish they had put that much effort into making the battle scenes look better. Oh yeah... and the airplanes dropping bombs from that altitude would probably have blown themselves to pieces along with the japs. All reality is sacrificed to make great big balls of fire.
All technical mistakes aside, the story isn't very strong and strangely enough the best parts of it are when the soldiers aren't fighting. I felt a little caught up in the drama near the end when they're fighting in the town, but that was about it.
The acting is OK by those involved, nick cage is less annoying than he has been in other recent efforts (and he seems to have this magnetic bullet repellent suit) and everyone else falls either on or under par. I actually did connect with the main navajo character. The script could have been better.
All in all not a really bad movie, but it did have the potential to be a 7.5 out of 10 instead of a 5.9 out of 10 had they made a concerted effort to bring quality and reality to life. A good movie to watch on a boring Sunday afternoon or a rainy day, but it sure as hell ain't no classic.