Change Your Image
LouisRenault
Reviews
D.O.A. (1988)
Don't waste your time
In the original, the main character and the premise are established in a few minutes. The plot moves along briskly and as O'Brien tries to find out who did it and why, you are as interested to learn the answers as he is.
Here, for more than half an hour you have no idea what the picture is all about; at one point it crossed my mind that it might not be any sort of remake at all. How is this half hour spent? In establishing that Quaid's character is someone who could live or die and you couldn't care less either way.
Learning form other reviewers that the denouement is a colossal letdown comes as no surprise; I couldn't say myself because I couldn't be bothered to watch it through.
Meg Ryan is gorgeous and Quaid gives a solid performance, but apart from that it is hard to find much good to say about this.
The Way Ahead (1944)
Stars' war service
Ubercommando compares 'J Wayne and H Bogart' unfavourably with the cast of this film who were actually serving in the British forces. Well, what about Clark Gable, James Stewart, Tyrone Power, Alan Ladd, Robert Ryan...there is a long list of top American stars who saw active service. On the other hand many British stars saw fit to stick with the acting. To suggest that, in general, American actors were shirkers while the British were sterling fellows is offensive and untrue. It's also worth pointing out that many actors who wanted to join up were specifically asked not to on the basis their propaganda value was greater than their value as individual servicemen, so we shouldn't rush to judgment (and those of us born after the war have no business making judgments anyway.) As to the film, I found it an engrossing account of how men are turned into soldiers. It has much in common with the early episodes of Band of Brothers, although naturally it did not dwell on the horrors of war; after all, the war was still going on and they didn't want to send potential recruits running for the hills. I recommend it warmly but recognize that it will have little appeal for a lot of people.