Product: Casualties of War [UMD for PSP] (1989)
Rating: 4.0
Casualties
I was a little underwhelmed by our stars performances in say the first half hour. It wasn't really until the entrance of the Vietnamese actress that things started to 'get real' in terms of acting. From the point where she enters, you can feel the tension in the air, and seems to bring the boys to a whole new level. Her acting is fantastic. They couldn't have found better for the part. She was completely beleivable and truly heartbreaking in her unaffected playing out of the role.I liked Michael J Fox in this a lot too, and I didn't think I would at first. Seeing the ex-Family Ties sit-com star suddenly out in the jungles of Vietnam was testing my powers of forgetfulness (i.e. my ability to forget all the shows I'd already seen him in, mostly comedy). He plays the protagonist in this one. Again, I wasn't really buying it in the beginning, but as the movie continued, so did my appreciation for Michael J Fox. Of course, it's natural that we side with the good guy, and he is 'the hero' in this movie, but besides the fact that we sympathize with his plight, his acting is serious and his presence beleivable. I won't say that all the scenes in this movie are beleivable, especially from a military perspective. It's obviously Hollywood in more than one instance, but it was still great to see Fox's powers bearing down on a dramatic role once the movie really got started.And once the story got started, there really was no turning away from it, much as you hate to witness what you know is going to go down. When that happens, the intrigue continues with the dilemma of what to do next - ignore it or seek justice?Sean Penn was ok (was that a Brooklyn accent?) though some of the other supporting actors (John C Reilly in particular) kind of bugged. At least at this point, we've seen their faces in so many different movies, that it becomes difficult to disassociate them from prior, or (as this movie was from '89) later performances and beleive them in this one. Often they seemed to have a kind of self-conscous 'acting-ness' in their acting. In other words, it didn't seem natural. It seemed like Hollywood actors pretending to be soldiers in Vietnam, and I don't know if this was due to their already being established screen personalities, or too much 'acting' on their parts. By contrast, the same could not be said of the Vietnamese girl. And it was probably she (and her acting) that helped bring out better performances from some of the others.This dvd has worthwhile special features which include 'A Conversation with Michael J Fox' and 'The Making of Casualties of War' which gives us interview time with Brian DePalma. It's nice to be able to hear Fox and DePalma talk about the movie in separate interviews after you watch the movie.