lucie
10-02-99, 04:00 PM
First, a disclaimer. I'm not a big fan of war and soldier movies, so feel free to ignore the following mini-review.
Even though I don't usually run out to see soldier flicks, the trailer and net-buzz surrounding this film made me brave the cinemas, with all their $4 drinks, gum on the armrests, crying infants, and small children kicking the back of your seat.
Briefly, the movie is concerns the adventures of 4 American soldiers in Iraq at the end of Desert Storm, off in search of gold bullion Saddam Hussein took out of Kuwait. George Clooney stars as the only professional soldier among them, the other three being reservists who have little real experience of war.
While there were a few heart-pounding, suspensful scenes (mostly of the what-will-they-do-to-scew-up-and-die sort), it was all pretty predictable. The characters were pretty cliche, although the actors did a decent journeyman job. Clooney's character actually did some sensible things, unusual in a Hollywood action picture.
Overall, it was an acceptable effort. Not too much melodrama, not too much warm-fuzzies. I felt for the soldiers as well as the Iraqi civilians in a distant sort of way. The end was pretty much as I assumed it would be from about the half-way point. I'd say it would be an okay movie to rent, but unless you are really a Clooney fan (I'm not - just another ho-hum American TV actor in my opinion), I wouldn't go out of my way to see it on the big screen. Once again, the trailer was better than the movie. For the guys out there, my husband liked it better than I did, although even he was pretty lukewarm.
On the plus side, I saw a trailer for "The Green Mile", with Tom Hanks and Gary Sinise. It looks very good, and gives me a second movie (other than "Sleepy Hollow") to look forward to this fall.
Even though I don't usually run out to see soldier flicks, the trailer and net-buzz surrounding this film made me brave the cinemas, with all their $4 drinks, gum on the armrests, crying infants, and small children kicking the back of your seat.
Briefly, the movie is concerns the adventures of 4 American soldiers in Iraq at the end of Desert Storm, off in search of gold bullion Saddam Hussein took out of Kuwait. George Clooney stars as the only professional soldier among them, the other three being reservists who have little real experience of war.
While there were a few heart-pounding, suspensful scenes (mostly of the what-will-they-do-to-scew-up-and-die sort), it was all pretty predictable. The characters were pretty cliche, although the actors did a decent journeyman job. Clooney's character actually did some sensible things, unusual in a Hollywood action picture.
Overall, it was an acceptable effort. Not too much melodrama, not too much warm-fuzzies. I felt for the soldiers as well as the Iraqi civilians in a distant sort of way. The end was pretty much as I assumed it would be from about the half-way point. I'd say it would be an okay movie to rent, but unless you are really a Clooney fan (I'm not - just another ho-hum American TV actor in my opinion), I wouldn't go out of my way to see it on the big screen. Once again, the trailer was better than the movie. For the guys out there, my husband liked it better than I did, although even he was pretty lukewarm.
On the plus side, I saw a trailer for "The Green Mile", with Tom Hanks and Gary Sinise. It looks very good, and gives me a second movie (other than "Sleepy Hollow") to look forward to this fall.