72
Metascore
9 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100TV Guide MagazineKen FoxTV Guide MagazineKen FoxThe title, by the way, is age-old slang for a soldier's complete combat gear, which for the U.S. soldiers in Iraq -- both real and otherwise -- weighs over 50 pounds.
- 91The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayThe A.V. ClubNoel MurrayFull Battle Rattle works just fine as a two-fisted combat story, with unexpected bursts of violence peppering that old universal message that war is hell.
- 80The New York TimesA.O. ScottThe New York TimesA.O. ScottGives a remarkably thorough and detailed account of the difficult conditions facing American soldiers in Iraq.
- 80SalonAndrew O'HehirSalonAndrew O'HehirIf Full Battle Rattle begins as surreal, almost goofball farce, with a bunch of beefy guys playing a fancy-dress version of laser tag in the desert -- aided by a bunch of rented Iraqis who'd rather be watching TV in suburbia -- it ends on an ambiguous and haunting note, much closer to tragedy.
- 75New York PostV.A. MusettoNew York PostV.A. MusettoIt is up to each viewer to decide if the Mojave project is a stroke of genius or a very expensive boondoggle.
- 70New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinNew York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinThe film is freaky, amusing, and sickening in equal measures—part fly-on-the-wall vérité, part multiple-perspective Altmanesque tragicomedy.
- 50The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttThe Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttIt's all a bit bizarre. One soldier tellingly calls it "one big reality TV show," and the movie never makes clear whether such training does any good.
- 50VarietyEddie CockrellVarietyEddie CockrellA so-so pic on an incendiary subject, Full Battle Rattle follows the training regimen of one battalion during engagement and occupation in one of 13 fake "villages" comprising a massive Iraq simulation somewhere in the Mojave Desert.
- 50Village VoiceJ. HobermanVillage VoiceJ. HobermanSet off by sprightly graphics and shimmering with over-bright colors, Full Battle Rattle has a fake transparency. The movie arouses, without gratifying, a desire to see the camera.