Reviews

SPOILERS!!! Remember the Martian? Yeah, the book was way better than the movie (surprise surprise), but for the sake of comparison I'll use it as an example to kind of flush out what I found obviously, and some times painfully, missing in this film.

Remember when all of the scientists got together to figure out how to get one guy home? There was some cool "working the problem" scenes that pulled the viewer into the story and the technical problems they had to over come and surmount. You felt like you were ringside in solving a mystery.

There is none of that here. The entire U.S effort basically boils down to just two scientists working the problem, which I find highly improbable. Yeah, they introduced her team when she first got there, but that was pretty much it. You didn't see much of that "team" after that, batting the ball around and solving a mystery. Nope, it was pretty much a one person show. Implausible.

Remember in the Martian, when they showed government officials, and how this problem went all the way to the top. Not here. All you see is one Army Colonel running the show. So yeah... This is the biggest event in World history let alone U.S. history... maybe perhaps spend 5 minutes extra camera time in this film, on the how the higher up's are working the problem? Implausible.

And then there is the communication amongst world powers. Here's a really good question. Do you really think we're going to stop talking to our allies, comparing notes and working the problem, just because a few Nations went silent and cut off communications? The screen goes blank with the U.K. in solving this mystery, just because China and Russia's screens go blank? No way. This is way too big for this weird cut off of communication, especially from our allies.

Also, I don't buy for a second that those soldiers would have, let alone could have, sneaked a bomb on the spaceship. With something this big they would have had Navy Seals in place following orders to the letter. They explain this action because one of them sees an internet broadcaster--weak tea. And then they're going to bring guns and shoot their fellow soldiers. Right.

Outside of that this movie was great. It was just too bare bones. I can understand what they were doing here. They wanted to strip the story down, trim all of the fat, so you could just focus on the main character and the evolution and realizations that grew into learning how to communicate with the Aliens. Grew in fact into a great Sci-Fi twist. That part was awesome. But they threw too much overboard, stripped to much off and tried to shed to much weight, and the movie foundered because of it.

It's ironic because this film is intended to be a Sci-Fi thinkpiece. And yet any thinking person out there, who maybe figured out the twist a few minutes before their friends did, was also subjected to some fairly big believability holes that could have easily been filled out.

So... Good film, that should have been Awesome!

Pretty fitting role for this man right? A recovering alcoholic... Pretty certain Mel was as drunk as a skunk when he committed career suicide lambasting Jewish people, and everything else under the sun. Fast forward a decade later, and I ask myself has he been humbled... Seen his evil ways and has now returned to us born again? In recovery? I don't know. What I do know is Mel Gibson has always owned anti-hero roles like this. He was good at them back then, and apparently a decade later he still is.

So... This film kicks ass. It has heart. It hits all of the right notes for a Father revenge flick, and his performance hits all of these notes way way better than a movie like Taken. This film is well worth a watch, and I can't decide whether I should feel guilty or happy about this.

I guess it all depends on whether this guy is still a jerk, or has woken the hell up. Ultimately though, what does it really matter? We have this thing in our society where celebrities have to be likable acceptable public figures, like politicians, or they're kicked to the curb. When really what does it matter? They're just actors doing a job. They could be a jerk and a great actor, or a saint and an awful actor. It really just relates to the caliber of their work, and I have to say, whether he is the former or the latter, he nailed this role like he did so often back in the day with other roles like this--back when everyone liked him.

Pretty good movie...

What the negative reviewers are failing to appreciate...

This is a mixed genre piece... Also, get over it.

Remember Knights Tale, and how effectively they used modern music to connect with a modern audience? "We will rock Rock you" for a jousting tournament? Remember Moulin Rouge! Solid examples of modern music, used in period pieces--to great effect, I'm thinking. We all imagine WW11 to the musical stylings of Vera Lynn, or can't imagine a WW1 piece without: It's a Long Way to Tipperary, all in black and white of course.

How does that hit our hearts now? This series has accurate uniform, armory, battles, replete with letters, and recorded statements from the participants involved. You don't get anymore historically accurate than this... Seriously, I can safely say it is a well researched portrayal. How about communicating that portrayal, so it is fully appreciated nowadays? How about expressing the extreme violence, nobleness and depravities of this period of history, in a language understandable to a modern day teenager--which were the fodder that we grinded up in this war? Perhaps, maybe, tell it in now, in this same young person's vocabulary, to express a greater truer impact of this conflict, in a way that will communicate to their own sensibilities? You know are youngsters now have currently been equally called out, and died in wars recently, that are perhaps stupider than this, and they just might benefit from what WW1 has to tell them. Why not make this piece accessible to them? This is nothing new in cinema, that hasn't been done many times over in the spirit of showing a generation, what previous generations have experienced. In my opinion, this is one of the stand outs, which makes history more tangible, something you can taste and feel, instead of a dusty old relic.

This is only a hundred years ago. We didn't have tails and were trying to avoid being eaten on the kalahari. The automobile, airplane, and telephone had already been incorporated into modern warfare.

They were listening to songs, like we are. This mixing of genres brings it home. It shows the relevancy of this war, and these young people, not it's antiquatedness. It was supposed to be: The war to end all Wars, and because it didn't, we might take pains to remind everyone of that fact.

Same assessment, for the modern in-camera portrayals, for the exact same reasons. YES!!! If the filmmakers of that day, could show what their generation went though, with the Pizazz this BBC production has, they would have been equally blown away, as I was watching this show.

Way to go BBC! Another brilliant example of how you are out-pacing other markets. A must see for anyone I can think of.

Not as good as Das Boot of course, but you get glimpses of the same gritty, smelly cramped soldiers who desperately fight their war through a machine they have to be completely in tune with.

This film has been plagued with Saving Private Ryan comparisons and that really is too bad. Those expectations will cause some disappointment. There was a wholesome all American quality to the soldiers in SPR that is nowhere to be seen in this film.

These 2nd Armor guys have been fighting since North Africa and are still trudging along at the spearhead of the Allied advance almost a year after D-Day. If this were a modern conflict, they'd be pulled off the line and would be undergoing PTSD treatment. You wouldn't want to share a cab with any of them, and if you threw them in street clothes you might mistake them for homeless people with mental illnesses.

There is an "End of the War" quality to this film that doesn't match the D-day esprit de corps. Most of the soldiers you see in this movie have already passed their breaking point. This fact adds a realism to these characters you rarely see in movies like this.

Excellent historical realism. Excellently choreographed tank battles. Excellent character performances. Finally, it's about time the WW2 tank corps got their film.

Solid WW2 film, that thankfully isn't Saving Private Ryan part two. Enjoy!