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Post by Toasted Cheese on Aug 5, 2019 11:59:47 GMT
This came out just after the critical acclaim of Platoon - 86' and some critics were praising it as the better movie and this was promoted to hype it as in....."Platoon got there first, but this is the better film." I was very much looking forward to seeing it, as I had seen Platoon several times and loved it. It wasn't better than Platoon and it wasn't any better than any other standard by the numbers action\war movie.
While technically quite an excellent production, pretty much everything else stops it dead in its tracks. Jerk off and unappealing characters that you can't really care about, recognize half the time and who talk boring and uninteresting monologues with unintelligible dialog, choppy episodic editing that cuts from one sequence to the next without much storytelling flair and forced pathos that is embarrassing to watch for the most part. The only 2 characters that I felt an inkling of interest in, was Courtney B Vance as Doc and Tim Quill as Beletsky and that was only out of viewer desperation to find something of appeal to cling to so I could make it through to the end of this interminable film which actually seems longer than its relatively short runtime of 1hr 45mins.
While the film does attempt to give us a realistic depiction of the combat these bunny soldiers engaged in, the way it was handled and presented was too jarring and inept, as to render it more like a 'B' movie presentation, something like I'd expect to see in a Chuck Norris actioner. Director John Irvin directed Schwarzenegger in the enjoyable mob actioner Raw Deal the year before and he should have stuck to the more over the top and cartoonish style action film. Perhaps it was the bad script that let him down the most, but time is the true teller and this one doesn't appear to have garnered much more of a reputation or a following in the wake of more revered Vietnam themed films like The Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now, Platoon, Full Metal Jacket and Casualties Of War.
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Post by The Herald Erjen on Aug 5, 2019 12:46:13 GMT
Saw it in the movie theatre. Awesome and underrated film.
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Post by Toasted Cheese on Aug 5, 2019 13:34:56 GMT
Saw it in the movie theatre. Awesome and underrated film. If you could please elaborate erj on why it is awesome and underrated?
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Post by drystyx on Aug 5, 2019 16:45:00 GMT
As Meat Loaf would say, "you took the words right out of my mouth".
That review sums it up. Sometimes, people making a movie try to make a statement, and are so proud of their statement, that they do a Cool Hand Luke and "fail to communicate". That's the big problem here. I'll even add that the director makes such a point of making it motley and muddy and confusing, that we can't tell one character from another, and so all we really get is confusion.
I'm of the minority camp that prefers the story to be communicated over the arrogance of thinking one has proved a point by failing to communicate.
That's only a minority camp in critic circles. It is a silent majority camp in the world of people who would actually want to know what is being said.
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Post by Toasted Cheese on Aug 5, 2019 23:44:23 GMT
As Meat Loaf would say, "you took the words right out of my mouth". That review sums it up. Sometimes, people making a movie try to make a statement, and are so proud of their statement, that they do a Cool Hand Luke and "fail to communicate". That's the big problem here. I'll even add that the director makes such a point of making it motley and muddy and confusing, that we can't tell one character from another, and so all we really get is confusion.
I'm of the minority camp that prefers the story to be communicated over the arrogance of thinking one has proved a point by failing to communicate.That's only a minority camp in critic circles. It is a silent majority camp in the world of people who would actually want to know what is being said. It is not even clear if it is making a pro war or anti-war statement, because it also appears to play up the pro-solider aspect which is a confused dichotomy in itself, especially regarding the situation in Vietnam which was ambiguous to say the least. The actions appeared heroic by playing down the glorification, but "muddied" this intent in the due process of not giving the film much character\personality on its own merit and it could even be considered propaganda due to its misguided presentation.
At any rate, from what I read, not many tend to bother with this one compared to the others I mentioned and deservedly so.
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Post by Toasted Cheese on Aug 11, 2019 1:15:21 GMT
Re-watched Platoon - 86'. The film is everything that Hamburger Hill isn't and while it takes a sympathetic stance towards the bunnies that went and fought in Vietnam, it takes a strong and potent stance within its theme and presentation of the futility and insanity of it all. It does NOT dress its characters to be heroes—which is the first flaw of military corruption, nationalism and jingoistic pride—shows many facets of character personality, is full of symbolism and portrays an arbitrary dichotomy of conflict within its own ranks which is believable. Hamburger Hill is just wrong all over.
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