You won't be disappointed!

Truly Dreadful Film

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

'SAND CASTLE': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)A war drama about a US Army rifleman, and his squad, who are trying to restore water to a dangerous Iraqi village. It's based on the real life experiences of it's screenwriter, Chris Roessner, and the script was featured on the 2012 Black List of unproduced screenplays. The film was directed by Fernando Coimbra, and it stars Nicholas Hoult, Logan Marshall-Green, Henry Cavill, Glen Powell, Tommy Flanagan, Beau Knapp and Neil Brown Jr.. It was released by Netflix through it's streaming site, and it's gotten mixed reviews from critics. I found it to be mostly well made, and somewhat effective, but it would have been a lot better with a little more character development. Private Matt Ocre (Hoult) is a young rifleman in the US Army, who enlisted (in 2001) in order to get financial aid for college. When the Iraq war starts (in 2003) he desperately wants to quit though. He slams the door of a Humvee on his hand, in an attempt to get sent home even. His efforts don't succeed, and he's instead sent to Baqubah, with his squad, to repair a broken water system there. Many of the locals don't want their help though, and Matt has to witness multiple casualties to his unit. This causes him great depression and frustration, naturally. The movie has all the makings of a good war film, it's well cast (Hoult, Marshall-Green and Cavill are all good in their roles) and it's nicely directed. It has well shot action scenes too, and seemingly effective emotional drama. I didn't know enough about the characters though, to really care for what they were going through. Technically the movie appears really well made, but it's just lacking enough character development to make it really effective.

such a waste of time. Can't believe Henry Cavill contributed to this resounding failure. plot is completely missing. Acting is superficial and dumb. and it doesn't appear a director was anywhere near this doomed location. God I feel bad having seen something as bad as this. I really hope no one else makes the same mistake.

Complete crap. The movie needs a real military adviser and someone thoughtful enough to project honesty. Story aside it doesn't fit. Really bad &0's film using no inside prospective it would have made the world of difference. If you want to write another one, drop me a line. With zero experience in film making I could have produced something much more considerate than this pill of crap. Sorry.

Great war film to watch. It doesn't just flood the film with meaningless action but shows a complex story about the difficult relations between the U.S. soldiers and the Iraqi community. You can really relate to the main character Pvt. Ocre (Nicholas Hoult) as he experiences the challenges and brutality of war. Some parts of the plot were a bit simple, but overall I would recommend it. Some parts can be a bit brutal though, so be prepared for that.