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Saw this yesterday at the lovely Battersea Power Station Cinema and was very impressed.
It was an incredibly affecting, tight, brilliantly produced movie. Visceral and intense. Not for the faint hearted. Put me in mood of certain scenes from Saving Private Ryan or Black Hawk Down in terms of its realism in war, albeit without many of the bells and whistles of conventional narrative film-making, especially in terms of character development. Great performances from the cast, notably Will Poulter and Michael Gandolfini. I'm a sucker for a real-time or near real-time thriller and this ticked those boxes nicely even without the wider context that is (usually annoyingly) woven in through exposition. I also liked how it represented the cadence of combat: lots of waiting around, boredom, gradual anxiety building and then the peace shattered by immediate, extreme violence.
As with much of Garland's work, there is practically no space given to the politics of the subject matter - I struggled to see any judgements being made on the moralities of war, the glorification of it, or the Iraq war specifically. You really do bring what you want to it, much like Civil War (2024). To that end it felt closer to a dramatic reconstruction than a conventional narrative piece, which makes sense given the premise that it was solely based off the memories of those involved.
Rare that a modern movie should elicit such a response in me such that I wanted to post about it, but there you go. Really intrigued as to what others think.
I'll end by saying I'm not really sure how *good* a film it was, what the message ultimately is (or whether there even is one). I also don't think I want to see it again, but I loved it. Go figure.
Went last night after hearing Kermode and Mayo review it and interview the makers (Garland and Ray Mendoza, the military advisor who was actually there at the time).
Agree it is an intense watch, totally gripping. You can summarize the 'plot' in a single sentence but this does not matter. Did remind me a little of Black Hawk Down as well as The Hurt Locker but for me was a cut above both in terms of the technical achievement and the feel of authenticity.
Ray Mendoza has been advising Hollywood for years on military matters, he worked with Garland on Civil War and they decided to get together to make this one. He called the rest of that team together to go over their memories of the event and get the detail as accurate as possible (given, as they admitted in the interview, memories are not always perfect and reliable, especially when you've just been in the vicinity of an IED detonation). These memories are all the film is based on, no further dramatisation, no bells or whistles, no musical score.
If you're not fond of war films, extended gun battles, injury detail, this isn't for you. But if you have the stomach for it, I highly recommend. Ideally at the cinema, as the sound design is amazing and home viewing will not do it justice.
Went last night after hearing Kermode and Mayo review it and interview the makers (Garland and Ray Mendoza, the military advisor who was actually there at the time).
Agree it is an intense watch, totally gripping. You can summarize the 'plot' in a single sentence but this does not matter. Did remind me a little of Black Hawk Down as well as The Hurt Locker but for me was a cut above both in terms of the technical achievement and the feel of authenticity.
Ray Mendoza has been advising Hollywood for years on military matters, he worked with Garland on Civil War and they decided to get together to make this one. He called the rest of that team together to go over their memories of the event and get the detail as accurate as possible (given, as they admitted in the interview, memories are not always perfect and reliable, especially when you've just been in the vicinity of an IED detonation). These memories are all the film is based on, no further dramatisation, no bells or whistles, no musical score.
If you're not fond of war films, extended gun battles, injury detail, this isn't for you. But if you have the stomach for it, I highly recommend. Ideally at the cinema, as the sound design is amazing and home viewing will not do it justice.
How are Kermode and Mayo these days? I used to love to listen but thought they got a bit too inside-jokey/big for their boots after a while, and I never really liked Mayo. Very much respect Kermode though.
How are Kermode and Mayo these days? I used to love to listen but thought they got a bit too inside-jokey/big for their boots after a while, and I never really liked Mayo. Very much respect Kermode though.
In case you aren't aware they moved from the Beeb to their own podcast, "Kermode & Mayo's Take" which like many has a free version with Ads or you pay £3ish a month for no ads and a bonus "second take" with extended material. It's the only podcast I pay for.
This allows them to be a bit more political and ranty (mostly about The Orange Man). But not too much imo.
In jokes are still there. The serious content has broadened to include TV series, such are the times. Understand if some like yourself find them a bit too smug. I'm opposite to you in that I prefer Mayo, although appreciate them both.
You can always check out a few recent reviews via YouTube if you want a flavour of how they are these days:
Watched it last night. Superb film, but a harrowing watch. Felt quite drained and stunned by the end. I really liked the way it didn’t come down on either side. Too many of these types of films are “shoot Arabs porn”, woo hah USA. This film isn’t that. Just a brutal depiction of a brutal event. One that must be seen at the cinema, predominantly for the sound.
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