Alright so my immediate reaction after this movie ended was holy crap that was good. I was in literal awe of the films ability to portray the brutality of war and how when it's all set and done it's not a bunch of medals and celebrations. When it's done it's grief and despair and trauma after everything that just happened. They show how this affects people, how it turns good people bad and forces them to become something they're not. Then I went online and read a few things that said that they didn't care about the characters cause they were "bad people". In my opinion those people completely missed the mark of the film.
This isn't a war film where you're supposed to like the characters. This is a war film that shows what war does to people, and what you have to become to survive it. Logan Lerman is the perfect example of that. His character Norman comes in as this scared shitless angel kid who's never done a wrong thing in his life. But over the course of the movie he sees what happens in war and how brutal it is and eventually becomes cold hearted and ruthless. That is what this film is. This isn't a "let's root for these lead characters because they're the heroes" film, this is a brutal telling of what actually happened during those wars and what it did to people.
The other big criticism I saw was how bad of a person Jon Bernthals character was. That was the point, everyone handles killing people over and over differently, they need to trick themselves into believing they are the kind of person who does. That's what Bernthals character is.
On a more technical note this film is almost flawless. Acting is across the board phenomenal, action sequences are stunning, music is perfect, story is top notch. I don't have anything negative to say her. Just incredible.
This isn't a war film where you're supposed to like the characters. This is a war film that shows what war does to people, and what you have to become to survive it. Logan Lerman is the perfect example of that. His character Norman comes in as this scared shitless angel kid who's never done a wrong thing in his life. But over the course of the movie he sees what happens in war and how brutal it is and eventually becomes cold hearted and ruthless. That is what this film is. This isn't a "let's root for these lead characters because they're the heroes" film, this is a brutal telling of what actually happened during those wars and what it did to people.
The other big criticism I saw was how bad of a person Jon Bernthals character was. That was the point, everyone handles killing people over and over differently, they need to trick themselves into believing they are the kind of person who does. That's what Bernthals character is.
On a more technical note this film is almost flawless. Acting is across the board phenomenal, action sequences are stunning, music is perfect, story is top notch. I don't have anything negative to say her. Just incredible.