Zoooloo! Zooloo! Zoooliooo!

Rating: 3/10 (9 July 2006)

It was painfully obviously watching 'Zulu' that it was straining for the movie to be Something Important. I mean, this movie, which is about a British fort trying to defend itself from an onslaught of Zulu warriors just has it all, 70mm , fantastic scenery, an excellent cast, etc. But why is it forgotten today? Like the only DVD available, is a low-rent company's version (with no subtitles and limited chapters!). So why was this delegated to the 1.99 bin? I think the main reason for it, and this happens to a lot of movies, is that it takes itself way too seriously for it's own good. I mean, you can tell some of the actors are just screaming "OSCAR!" under their breath, acting acting acting. The chief culprit of this is Jack Hawkins, as a priest, who bellows out his lines every chance he gets, close behind is Ulla Jacobsson who plays his daughter, who tries to chew on the curtains once Hawkins is done with them. Stanley Baker, who plays Lt. John Chard. Is alright, but somewhat invisible. The one that garnered all my attention was of course, Michael Caine, here in his first starring role, and rather amusingly and stunningly, rises above the material. I can almost sense Caine was seeing this was a turkey,. And trying to be as unassuming and sly as possible. This is the best thing in the movie, but however, not worth sitting through 135 minutes over.