BEFORE: Well, the big day is fast approaching, and I've got a lot to do to get ready. Of course, I'm talking about the finale of "The Amazing Race" - I've been watching all these movies, and just storing the episodes on VHS - but I hate it when I see the winner of a reality show is announced in a newspaper or magazine (or worse, on Twitter) and I'm not current on the show. So I figure if I start watching 2 episodes a night, starting...um...tomorrow, I just might make it.
Oh, yeah, Christmas is coming up too, so I took some time today to get the bulk of my Christmas cards addressed. We also had some social engagements this weekend - so I'm going to use up my free day, and count this as Sunday AND Monday's movie - which also helps me, in a roundabout way, to organize my war films somewhat chronologically.
THE PLOT: 123 elite U.S. soldiers drop into Somalia to capture two top lieutenants of a renegade warlord and find themselves in a desperate battle with a large force of heavily-armed Somalis.
AFTER: I admit, I got my wires crossed - I thought this was the film about a helicopter pilot stranded in Bosnia - but I think that's "Behind Enemy Lines". But I taped this one instead and put it on DVD, so I can't unring that bell.
Like last night's film, this movie depicts a recent conflict, with U.S. soldiers in tense, tight situations. But when you add up the chopper pilots, the humvee drivers, the army rangers, and the command forces, there were maybe a few too many characters in this film - it was hard for me to keep track of them all. "The Hurt Locker" accomplished more with less, by focusing on one squad of three men.
I know, it's based on a true story, and there were a certain number of soldiers involved, and there were a lot of different elements - so many that when one of the Black Hawk helicopters gets shot down, the whole operation descends into chaos.
There are probably a bunch of military gearheads who really dig this film, and are willing to rewatch it and spend weeks analyzing it, but I found it mostly confusing and pointless. Or was that a metaphor for war itself?
Starring (and this could take a while...) Josh Hartnett (last seen in "Hollywood Homicide"), Eric Bana (last seen in "The Time Traveler's Wife"), Ewan MacGregor (last seen in "The Men Who Stare at Goats"), Tom Sizemore (last seen in "Heat"), William Fichtner (last heard in "Mr. & Mrs. Smith"), Sam Shepard (last seen in "The Right Stuff"), Ron Eldard (last seen in "Sleepers"), Ioan Gruffudd (last seen in "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer"), Zeljko Ivanek (last seen in "Live Free or Die Hard"), Jason Isaacs (last seen in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix"), Jeremy Piven (also last seen in "Heat"), Steven Ford (son of Gerald), and Orlando Bloom. Oh, and Carmine Giovinazzo (Danny from "CSI:NY") was in there too.
RATING: 5 out of 10 gun turrets
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