Violent but Thoughtful in Places

Rating: 7/10 (15 June 2002)

A number of films dealing with WW2 have hit the screens recently, e.g., Pearl Harbor, Thin Red Line, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, etc., but this is the most violent. In fact, the violence just doesn't let up. The main focus of the story, i.e., Sgt. Enders (Cage) being charged "to protect the code" at all costs gets somehow chewed up in the on-going onslaught. This is not a film for someone looking for a good love story (ala Pearl Harbor). As I'm somewhat of a serious history buff, I'll resist being tempted to pick the tale apart from its many, many glaring inaccuracies. We did indeed use Navajo phone talkers on the front lines during the Pacific Theater campaign of WW2 but the premise of the tale is pure Hollywood. Also, I failed to count the number of Japanese soldiers Cage killed but it likely accounted for half the Japanese casualties of the Saipan invasion. If we can't realize these aspects, we've no business going to the movies and should stay home reading our history books. I was less put off by the historical slips than by the unrelenting blowing people up. On the positive side, I enjoyed seeing villains Jason Isaacs and Peter Stormare as good guys, Mark Ruffalo was a convincing Pappas and Christian Slater was enjoyable playing the harmonica with Roger Willie's flute. I hope to be seeing more of them. As for the film, I got a bit tired of watching Gage wring himself out only to be soaked again in more violence. The interplay of cultural elements and the racist confrontation between Adam Beach and Noah Emmerich added texture to a somewhat bemuddled story with more inter- and intra-conflicts than is found in a Pleistocene rain forest.