Tigerland

Rating:
Summary: Vietnam's best role yet
Review: Don't get me wrong, this film is by no means the best war movie, or even best Vietnam film made; but it is, however, the best role a war has ever had to play on film. Explanation: We never actually see the jungle terrain of Vietnam in Tigerland, instead we witness bootcamp circa Vietnam through the eyes of Private Jim Paxton (Matthew Davis), a noble and romantic wannabe Hemmingway who believes that the war will provide him some insight into humanity. While he may not necessarily be wrong to that extent, he is wrong in his assumption of what the war or even the modern soldier are. Setting him straight in this regard is the wonderful character of Private Bozz (an excellent performance by Collin Farrell), who has an utter disregard for authority and the war, and desperately wants to escape both of their clutches.

It would have been easy to concentrate on the terrific Bozz character who is part Bill Murray from "Stripes" and part Cool Hand Luke (as previously, and accurately stated), but the supporting cast was surprisingly fleshed out as well, from the excellent Paxton to the incapable and frightened Miter, all the way down to the mean-spirited antagonist Wilson. The cliche's are avoided in this film.

Throughout the entire film, Vietnam plays an important role, creating a "High Noon" like climactic experience. Every day that passes for the soldiers, and every day that we get to know, undertstand, and love them more, is a day closer to the jaws of Vietnam. The war works better as a looming menace than it has worked as an actual setting in past films.

While the standout in this film is Farrell for his breakout performance as Bozz, the rest of the excellent young cast deserves applause as well for not falling into the old routine of poor, dumb, scared soldiers, even though many of them are. But the bulk of praise should be heaped on the capable and talented young shoulders of cinematographer Matthew Libatique, whose work was superior to the similar, oscar winning effort of "Traffic". Not to mention Schumacher, who after the wretched tragedy of "Batman and Robin" has returned to his roots as a filmaker, and made a terrific film in the process. Here's to hoping he gives the finger to the big studios more often.

Rating:
Summary: Please Don't Waste Your Time
Review: I'm a huge fan of war movies. They're all great. Dirty Dozen, Enemy at the Gates, Empire of the Sun, Saving Private Ryan - it's hard to make a bad war movie. However, while war movies have enjoyed a big revival, there's the occasional stinker. Thin Red Line was slow, plodding, and pointless - but at least it had some decent action scenes to carry it. However, if you took out all the action, and added more "philosophy", you'd end up with Tigerland.

Ever fall asleep in class after two hours of discussing morals, ethics, etc.? Welcome back to class. Tigerland goes nowhere, and does nothing. Aside from one or two comical scenes (involving genitals and a battery), this movie is an awful mess. This is NOT a war movie. This is a philosophical round table with Vietnam as the background. This was just so weak, and so painful to watch, I could never recommend anyone to watch this. I don't mind a more intellectual movie, but this is the furthest thing from it. It's no wonder this went straight to video despite being directed by Schumacher.

Rating:
Summary: Ouch.
Review: This is a brutally efficient piece of no-frills filmmaking. Who the hell thought Joel Schumacher, who has made some incredibly bad movies ("Batman & Robin" for one) was capable of something so....well, not Hollywood? No famous actors. No budget to speak of. Everything shot in sixteen millimeter for the shaky-camera effect. And of course a dialogue-driven story. If you've read the other reviews you know the plot particulars, so I'll skip them and just say this: although this is not a "war" movie in the classic sense (it's about the final training grunts receive before they ship off to Vietnam), the environment is every bit as ruthless as combat. The grunts are beaten and belittled like field hands by sergeants whose approaches run from "tough love" to "outright sadism." Forget the stylized brutality you saw in "Full Metal Jacket." "Tigerland" has no style, no grace, no senstivity -- it's just an ugly, nasty documentary-style movie that shows how military training affects different types of human beings: some break, some twist, and some grow stronger under pressure. And unlike many classic war movies which show the US Army as a melting pot of all classes, "Tigerland" demonstrates that drafted war is almost exclusively the province of poor, dumb, scared kids from ghettos and trailer parks who have no stake in either victory or defeat. The movie has a few minor weaknessess -- Collin Farrell's Bozz is so resiliently insubordinate there are times you kind of want to see him get broken, the only patriotic soldiers in the squad are presented simultaneously as viciously paranoid, homophobic racists (it's not hard to see where the producers' politics lie) and the ending wanders a bit far into predictable territory. Still, overall, this is a very gripping movie, and it shows that deep down, even the most explotive, bought-and-paid-for Hollywood schlockmeisters probably have the talent to make great entertainment....if only Hollywood would let them.

Rating:
Summary: Gritty and unsentimental
Review: A good film ... quite possibly a great one ... understated in tone, somber, and remarkably well-acted. Colin Farrell is as fantastic as the critics have said.

The film possesses the look of a documentary and succeeds almost on that level, presenting the seemingly senseless brutality of boot camp without glory or heroics. There is nothing gung-ho here about its presentation of war and the psychological effects of it on men forced into situations who have no inclination for it.

As for the DVD's special features, check out Colin Farrell's audition segments.

Strongly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: THE TIGER EATING HIS TAIL!!
Review: I kept waiting and waiting and waiting, for a tag line to appear or even a character build up. Something!! Jeeeeezzze, what a flop.
The only interest here was the pseudo-homosexual overtones of men at war and that was not developed. No wonder I hated that Bat Man movie this guy Directed.
At no time was this movie believable.
Colin Farrell, prances around like some 'boot-camp-guru',helping guys get out of the service, and although his acting, along with his friend, Matthew Davis, was good, we have to grasp at straws to bring any sense to it all... I gave it a *. Yes one (*)
The ending you've seen a thousand times, but mostly its a man and a woman in the crying scene. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against homosexuality in movies, but this movie left us flat on both fronts.
This refers to the theatrical release, not the DVD.ciao yaaah69

Rating:
Summary: the first anit-hero in 35 years
Review: Not since Steve Mcqueen in "Bullitt" or Paul Newman in "Cool Hand Luke" has there been a movie that can stand shoulder to shoulder with these two classics. Through circumstances beyond the titles roles character he becomes a hero/leader not because he wants to (because he doesn't) but because he is his "own man" willing to stand against the wall of establishment for what he believes in (think of the Chinese man standing if front of the Chinese army tank in Tennemen Square blocking it's path during the political chaos there) Tigerland is the first movie shot digitally and transferred to tape. Tigerland is a "mock" Vietnam jungle and the last phase of training for these marines before they are shipped off to the real Vietnam. Set in the last phase of the Vietnam War prior to the pullout,Colin Farrell the loner, enters helping other recruits get a military discharge who do not want to go Vietnam for fear of coming back horizontally in a body-bag. Himself,against the war, becomes the center of focus as a leader of his platoon by not wanting to be one. All the characters are well defined. This is not a war movie,but what happens or could've happened and represents the thinking of that time,that being that America was questioning why are we involved in this war as well the recruits who didn't believe in blind faith anymore. Through Colin Farrell they are given eyes to see as well accepting destiny himself.

Rating:
Summary: Didn't like it ...but respected it
Review: It was a good depiction of the internal conflicts that come about in that kind of training. The movie also shows the method behind the madness in training.

Rating:
Summary: I Went Through Tigerland
Review: I bought the Video because of its title and subject matter. As a graduate of Light Weapons Infantry Advanced Individual Training (AIT), A Co, 6th Battalion, 3d Brigade (Tigerland), Ft Polk in Sep '67, I guess I looked at this film with a very critical eye. There was a whole lot of Hollywood fiction and stereotyping in the film. This was NOT how it was! The few things the film did right was to capture the types of characters who were being drafted and sent to that cannon fodder school... a course in camping, shooting, survival and sleep deprivation. I could see the faces of my fellow trainees in some of the characters in the film. I don't know where the trainees got the time to go party as they did in the film. Our duty day started around 02:30 or 0300 and went until 24:00. What little time we had off (usually Saturday afternoon and Sunday if we were not on guard duty or kitchen police) was spent sleeping and cleaning our gear.

The drill instructors in the film were depicted as either totally insane and sadistic or as "tough but fair" professionals. In reality, 99% of the DI's were in the "tough but fair" professionals category. The few sadistic types who slipped through the screening process did not last very long at all.

Another bad fact in the film was the name of the final training phase. "Tigerland" was the name of the entire training area of Fort Polk for Infantry AIT. "Tiger Ridge", or just "The Ridge", was where we went through our final field exercise, which was a lot tougher than depicted in the film.

The main character did a great job of acting. The story was entertaining, but largely fictional. If there was a competent military "technical advisor", present, the director must have totally ignored his advice. Overall the film was entertaining and it reminded me of many of the brave souls I served with.
Sam Carlson
Captain, US Army (Retired)

Rating:
Summary: Best Vietnam film that doesn't even take place in Nam
Review: When first seeing previews for this movie I expected, for the mostpart, another clone of Platoon and/or Full Metal Jacket. God knows enough Vietnam films have been made. But the plot and previews still struck me as extremely catchy, describing a rebellious young soldier in training for Vietnam, whose attitude and leadership skills lead him against his superior officers as well as other elements.

Well, the previews were not deceiving as they are for some films and the action presented beforehand stayed true to the actual film. The film follows a young man named Private Bozz, drafted by the United States government to serve his duty in Vietnam, who, unfortunately for the Army as well as his commanding officers, is bitterly opposed to the draft as well as the Vietnam conflict. After attempting to escape and/or get himself thrown out of his company numerous times, Bozz is finally tortured and beaten enough by his superior officers in which he stays put with the rest of the Army trainees.

However, he does not do so without some resistance. After befriending Private Paxton, a bright young recruit who left college and voluntarily went to serve his country, the two become close friends and Paxton slowly begins to understand Bozz's views on the war and the sickening Gung-Ho ways that the Army officers conduct themselves. Thus, through his determination to resist the Army and ultimate lack of care for what his superiors tell him, Bozz wins over the following and trust of most of the rest of his company, with the exception of one Private Wilson, a psychotic man who unleashes his contempt for Bozz on him at every open opportunity.

Thus, after several weeks in training and numerous encounters with both Wilson and the officers who are training them, the recruits finally make it to Tigerland, an Army training base which is the closest possible resemblance/re-enactment of Vietnam. Here the recruits are put through one week of terrible conditioning in which they are allowed one hour of sleep per night and put through gruesome operations to hone their skills for the realities of combat. But while in Tigerland, the unexpected happens as the group led by Bozz encounters one run by Private Wilson, who has an ax to grind and is seeking revenge for Bozz's humiliation of him in training camp.

I would venture to say this is one of the best, not to mention most realistic, Army training films ever released. It does not top Platoon as far as Vietnam movies go, but I would rank it as a close second, tied alongside Full Metal Jacket. Since the film never actually takes place in Vietnam, but rather in training camp the entire time, I would call it the best boot camp movie released. Colin Farrell does a brilliant job of portraying Bozz, while the rest of the actors pull off their roles superbly as well.

The filming is extremely realistic, as the camera shakes when the recruits are riding in the back of a truck, or is splashed with water when they run through a river. Empathy is a big part of this. Definitely 5 stars and quite disappointing that it did not get more press coverage and attention.

Rating:
Summary: SCHUMACHER AT LAST REDEEMS HIMSELF !!!!!!
Review: AFter the awful BATMAN & ROBIN and EIGHT MILIMETERS, Schumacher delivers a good, low budgeted movie, with a handful of great characters and relatively unknown actors. Very, very interesting indeed. If that was the way American soliders were trained before going to Vietnam I don't know, but the movie is great.