What a waste of my time!!!

This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Sorry folks. Iraq was not Vietnam. A jungle in Southeast Asia is very different from an open desert in the middle east. That's not to belittle what our soldiers went through, but I think Vietnam was a bit more unpredictable and freaky, given the terrain.We have deserts in America. We don't have jungles.Why not include at least one veteran who adjusts well to life back home? I'm sure there are plenty. It would provide balance.Other than the one substantial event at the end of their tour, was the rest of their experience over there so terrible? Some reviewers have said that this is not an anti-war movie, but I think it is. You hear so many characters questioning our motives, but not many, if any, effectively defending them.All the characters do is feel sorry for themselves. It gets tiresome. Why didn't the Director and Writer notice this? Where's the gratitude? For their health, their lovely town and families, and their employment?Bush laid out at least 17 concrete reasons to go in there, and it all fit the concept of the War on Terror, with or without WMDs. What character says that? Why the hell did you volunteer, if you didn't believe in the cause?Why do a movie, unless you can offer something unique? A different take on things, a different performance, a different style? Melodramatic music, flashbacks, heaviness, mediocre acting. It's all been done before. Stay away from this one.

This is really as bad and wrong as it gets. There've been several movies that highlight the difficulties soldiers go through when they come back home after whatever war they fought in. Most have at least tried to do a respectful job and some turned out into great movies (like Born on the 4th of July). Not this one. It's insulting. To veterans, to movie lovers, to people with a brain. At some points I thought, then hoped, it was actually a spoof. That might have been a bit distasteful, but would at least have explained the horrendous screenplay, abundance of cheesy clichés, stereotypes and bad acting. It's loaded with these cheesy flashbacks to help you understand the emotion at hand. Seriously, it is sooo bad at times, at some points it really gets hilarious and I was laughing out loud. Like the scene when Brian Presley's character comes to his dad's garage after 50 cents gets kind of accidentally shot by a sniper ("No no, god#*#!it") and looses it. His dad is a stereotype 'Man', hardliner ("shrinks are for pussies") but then shows his soft side and starts hugging his son extremely awkwardly, "it's OK, it's OK". It's hilarious. Do not buy the DVD but if you happen to have it like I do (it was in the $ 1 box) go to the 72nd minute for this classic scene. The laugh is worth a dollar. Some other great scenes: Jessica Biel is having a hard time coping with her hand prosthesis which is highlighted by exposing her to every imaginable situation were the prosthesis might get in her way. In one scene a man asks her if she 'needs a hand' (not kidding). In another scene her soon to be ex-boyfriend (casting didn't do a great job as well - the man is not really a believable boyfriend to Jessica Biel, with all due respect - and no, he's not beautiful from inside) spitefully tells her "I guess it only takes one good hand to push people away" (53d minute). I kid you not. But all laughs aside, this is meant to be a serious movie. And that's really really sad.

I probably have a different point of view than most reviews, being an actual Iraq War veteran.This movie is quite terrible from the start. A bizarrely organized Washington National Guard unit is caught an ambush. Unfortunately, it's so patently obviously they're being herded into a kill zone, and they do absolutely nothing to prevent it, that it's difficult to feel sympathy for anyone dumb enough to allow themselves to get trapped that easily. It gets even more absurd as a fire team of four guys decides to abandon their vehicles and run blindly into a numerically superior force with overwhelming firepower. Again, my response was "serves you idiots right" when someone gets killed.The three main characters are Lt. Col. Marsh, a medical officer; Sgt Price, a female mechanic; and two enlisted infantrymen, Yates and Jamal. Yes, they all ended up in the same ambush. Don't ask.Marsh hits the bottle and clashes with his rebellious anti-war son, culminating in an unintentionally hilarious drunken Thanksgiving scene.Price loses a hand to an IED, and she becomes a bitter and angry at the world.Jamal is just angry, and his mumbling is nearly unintelligible. He flips out at a group therapy session, complete with a random appearance by a grizzled Vietnam veteran. Don't ask.Yates is supposed to be the emotional center of this film, but between his limited acting ability and the poorly written script, you just want him to stop whining. His civilian employer blatantly violates the federal USERRA law, and his response is to do nothing. He even gives the cheesy "YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE OVER THERE, MAN!" speech.What little suspension of disbelief is frequently broken by the poor production values, lack of research, and training. None of the actors look remotely comfortable holding a weapon, wearing a uniform (the berets in particular look ridiculous), or doing anything even remotely military-related. Random military jargon is thrown into the dialogue, even if it is completely out of place, or totally nonsensical in context.The main problem is none of the characters have a realistic character arc. They go from damaged to whole again for little or no reason. It's like going from A to C with no B.

Direction, acting, production values... everything here is decent. Yet, this movie is as stale as can be. The primary fault lies on an unoriginal story that refrains from controversy. But there are so many clichés and following of conventions here, that it becomes extremely difficult to care or to enjoy plot developments that are heavy-handed and telegraphed to the audience.And as much as the dramatic scenes at home lack punch, I must say the scenes back on the battlefield felt totally uninspired. Like something you would tack on a b-movie.Some tremendous performances, or a last script brush might have saved the film from being a forgettable one but alas, everybody here seems content to go through the motions. In the end, the fault lies primarily on poor writing and unengaged direction.I applaud Irwin Winkler for attempting to tell a story without relying on Hollywood action and by concentrating on the drama surrounding the characters. Unfortunately, the drama here is not really good and even though movies like Stop-Loss and Lions for Lambs have more distracting plot treads, they nonetheless nail better dramatic moments and have us care about the characters a little more.