Reviews

A very interesting piece for sure. I would stop at calling it required viewing because it lacks context. And the film presents itself somewhat deceptively.

It is important to note that this was the Iraqi insurgency primarily in the mid to late months of 2003, and not what it had evolved into by the time of the film's release in 2006. In fact, the film's final statement was patently untrue by the time of release.

However, the various interviews show many of the rationalizations and motivations behind the resistance forces. Some of them are quite valid, others are absurdly hypocritical. However, what makes them interesting and important is that whether a man fights as an insurgent because he has good cause, or because he is a fool, or because he is evil, he still fights. And understanding the variety of motivations is key to understanding the ways, and difficulty, to overcome them.

This film would have been much better with narration that probed these conflicting emotions and rationalizations. As it stands is probably only good for viewing in an academic setting where intelligent discussion could follow.

While the Iraq War certainly deserves its fair share of scrutiny, and history will surely paint a less than stellar picture of the politics behind the war and those leaders, Republican and Democrat, who led the United States into that war, those who served in it deserve at least the smallest measure of dignity in their portrayal. And filmmakers attempting to portray them owe them a small amount of integrity in their work.

Nick Broomfield's film has no such integrity. It misrepresents, lies, and sensationalizes at every turn, creating wholly unrealistic situations, and even making bald faced lies about Marine Corps policies, as well as tactics techniques and procedures (TTPs). The film claims to have used veterans of the United States military, however any of the "actors" used in this film who are prior service should be ashamed for participating.

It is the Iraq War critic's dream film: where every preconceived notion of what is wrong with the American occupation is true, every injustice levied against our troops by their own government is true, and every hyper-violent, baby killer, traumatized stereotype of the American fighting man is also true. The film describes an endless series of falsehoods before it even reaches the half way point in its run time. A Marine is told he cannot visit a doctor until after he goes home, and then only on his leave. This has never, ever been true. And while there is often peer pressure or doctrinal conditioning, and even sometimes situational factors that prevents Marines from seeking immediate mental help, none would ever be outright denied that help, let alone told that he could not receive it in theater. The film also shows a man clown up by a UAV for simply walking down the street with a shovel. This is also patently against US Rules of Engagement, and would never happen. Broomfield even chooses to sensationalize it more by showing moments before that the man had the shovel to plant a tree at a celebratory party, making the scene all the more despicable to include in the film. Marines are shown threatening prisoners by claiming to hold their families hostage.

If there is even the possibility that the events of November 19th 2005 were an atrocity, it can be said with certainty that this film is one. In his rush to capitalize on, and sensationalize, Nick Broomfield abandoned any pretext of credibility, and any sense of integrity. This film is disgusting. Whether you believe the war in Iraq was merely misguided, or you believe it was an outright lie and detestable, this film serves no purpose as a piece of war criticism. One does not have to lie to shown wrong in war. And Nick Broomfield is a liar. He's lucky that he cannot be sued for libel and slander by the Marine Corps. To refer to his film as a docudrama is a sick joke. There is no "docu" present here at all.

A note to filmmakers: Please, by all means explore criticism of the war in Iraq. It is important for future generations that Americans no longer blindly support military action and not get caught up in surges of war hysteria and revenge driven blood lust. But when you do it, do it honestly, or it makes you even bigger liars than those you seek to condemn.

I had been a big fan of the video games when I was younger, and considering how good Wing Commander 3 had been, you could only expect that the movie would be decent.

Right?

Wrong. Replacing veteran actors like John Rhys Davies, Malcom McDowell and Mark Hamill was a veritable who's who of the worst actors in Hollywood. Freddy Prinze Jr. delivers a role of a caliber only a cardboard cut-out of himself could duplicate (not that this is out of the ordinary for him). Matthew Lillard proves once again that he's only good in a role where a complete lack of skill as an actor goes unnoticed.

Beyond this, the story is ludicrous. If the two leading actors don't irritate you just with their presence, or lack of screen presence, the boring, paper thin plot will. The fighters, far removed from the sleek, lethal looking fighters of the video game are replaced by clunky, clumsy looking ones. I remember hearing the creators of the movie wanted the movie to have the feel of old school WW2, Korean War dogfights, but they not only failed in that, they gave us fighters that nobody would actually want to fly in the game.

I remember this being the first movie I ever felt like walking out on, and only stayed because I figured at the time that there had to be some redeeming value to it. Wow, was I ever wrong. And the worst part of this disaster? It derailed a possible franchise before it even got started. I remember thinking that Wing Commander 3 would have made a great movie (even though the video game was among the first video games to have a full cast of actors and sets). Well, it probably would have, though this was not it. Save yourself the time and effort, don't even catch a rerun on SciFi.

1/10, and only because Saffron Burrows is good looking enough to fool you into stopping if you channel surf by.