well, in a word: silly. too silly to take any of it seriously, as great as the action scenes were technically. the only scene that resonated with me in even the slightest was joel getting upset with the TV journalists being so routine when talking to lee about sammy and the other two guys being killed. and the only scene i found entertaining was the one at the body pit, because of jesse plemmons. sometimes i wondered if it was supposed to be ironic like a scripted 'borat'. but as realistic and incredible as the battle scenes were, the whole plot just didn't feel real. who knows? maybe those kids who were in Hawaiian-like shirts could be experts in military operations. but almost every person felt like a cosplayer - even the pros, who I see included actual veterans. I understood what they were going for with the dilemma of how journalists have to cover such things while removing themselves, but it wasn't compelling. and I'm never a fan of the whole 'push the other person out of the way of impending death' shots. most times, the person who takes the hit for the other could have saved themselves too. it was so drawn out and dramatized. every other scene showed real-time action, which again, was the strongest point of the movie. idk. obviously the movie gave me lots to think about, but not with intrigue. I wasn't expecting the angle the movie took, but even with that angle, I expected something more compelling, similar to zombieland. maybe I'm too cynicical
Review by Brandon HolthausBlockedParentSpoilers2024-06-03T04:20:44Z
well, in a word: silly. too silly to take any of it seriously, as great as the action scenes were technically. the only scene that resonated with me in even the slightest was joel getting upset with the TV journalists being so routine when talking to lee about sammy and the other two guys being killed. and the only scene i found entertaining was the one at the body pit, because of jesse plemmons. sometimes i wondered if it was supposed to be ironic like a scripted 'borat'. but as realistic and incredible as the battle scenes were, the whole plot just didn't feel real. who knows? maybe those kids who were in Hawaiian-like shirts could be experts in military operations. but almost every person felt like a cosplayer - even the pros, who I see included actual veterans. I understood what they were going for with the dilemma of how journalists have to cover such things while removing themselves, but it wasn't compelling. and I'm never a fan of the whole 'push the other person out of the way of impending death' shots. most times, the person who takes the hit for the other could have saved themselves too. it was so drawn out and dramatized. every other scene showed real-time action, which again, was the strongest point of the movie. idk. obviously the movie gave me lots to think about, but not with intrigue. I wasn't expecting the angle the movie took, but even with that angle, I expected something more compelling, similar to zombieland. maybe I'm too cynicical