Why I Saw It: I like Brad Pitt and war movies.
Cast: I like whenever I feel like the producers got their first choice for each of the roles. Collectively, there isn't a ton of star power, but it's a good mix of familiar faces, less familiar ones, and people who regularly make the most of any role. Brad Pitt isn't a far cry from his last Nazi killin' role. He's more tortured by his actions though. Shia LaBeouf plays against expectations as a deeply religious soldier who has come to terms with what he must do in wat. Logan Lerman is a trained clerical officer who finds himself a member of this unit. He's the new guy and the film traces his transformation from meek to hardened. Michael Pena is consistently one of my favorite actors to show up in anything. He doesn't have much to do in this but he does it well. Jon Bernthal is a bit of a loose cannon and certainly the most frustrating character. That is by design. Some people internalize what the war has done to them. He doesn't.
Plot: It's the tail end of WWII and Lerman finds himself part of a tank unit in a region of Germany that still has a lot of fighting going on. The Germans are ready to lose, but in the mean time, they are trying every desperation move they can, recruiting women, children, and anyone else they can to fight. The movie isn't focused on the macro story. It's just about this tank unit as they move through assorted strategic points. There's plenty of fighting and explosions, so fans of that won't be disappointed. The audience is very much playing catch up through Lerman learning the ways, and I think it's the speed of his transformation that's my biggest complaint. The movie takes place over a couple days at most and Lerman goes from weeping at the thought of killing someone to plowing Nazi down in droves. It's very quick.I was impressed by how lived in the whole movie was. Every camp looked haphazzardly put together and nothing was clean. Apparently, all of Germany is perpetually overcast and it just finished raining. I'm not sure how accurate that is, but that's the version they settled on.
Elephant in the Room: Boys will be boys. Look, no one is a saint in warfare. People are killing each other and no one speaking another language can be trusted. David Ayer is not trying to cover any of that up. He's taken the heroics out of most of this. There is one sequence though that I can only describe as a little bit rapey that was the hardest part to watch. After taking control of a German town, Pitt and Lerman (and eventually the others) find themselves in the house of a couple German women. Nothing bad exactly happens. It's all very tense. Needlessly tense. Pitt's character knows German. He could've easily set the women at ease by saying more. They are technically "the enemy" and the point is to show how we lose civility in times like this. But, boy is it uncomfortable to watch.
To Sum Things Up:
War is hell. However much you need to be reminded of that will determine your enjoyment of this. For some people, seeing Saving Private Ryan means you don't ever need to see this. I'm not in that group. It's a good World War 2 movie. The performances are solid. The fights are shot well and look pretty authentic. It has a couple points where it drags and Ayer definitely revels in the violence (i.e. it's a bit excessive). The end result is something that fans of the genre will certainly enjoy.
Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend
No comments:
Post a Comment