Discussion
Just got back from seeing it at the Canary Wharf Everyman cinema after avoiding reading anything about it apart from the first couple of posts on this thread.
Wow! Walked out into the daylight and relative quiet, totally shell-shocked.
Really is intense and absorbing, and definitely something you need to see in the cinema for the sound alone.
Tell me I wasn't the only one who jumped when the IED went off
Wow! Walked out into the daylight and relative quiet, totally shell-shocked.
Really is intense and absorbing, and definitely something you need to see in the cinema for the sound alone.
Tell me I wasn't the only one who jumped when the IED went off
LM240 said:
Annoyed as I’d been looking forward to this. Didn’t realise it was actually out in cinemas yet and have missed a really short run of it in our cinema. (Alternative cinema options involves a plane journey, so will wait for release on Sky or Netflix’s)
That's a real shame, it's really worth seeing on the big screen for the surroundsound alone. vixen1700 said:
LM240 said:
Annoyed as I’d been looking forward to this. Didn’t realise it was actually out in cinemas yet and have missed a really short run of it in our cinema. (Alternative cinema options involves a plane journey, so will wait for release on Sky or Netflix’s)
That's a real shame, it's really worth seeing on the big screen for the surroundsound alone. I went to see this on the Easter Monday bank holiday and it's definitely a very marmite film. If you're expecting a very typical Hollywood war movie, it definitely isn't that. This film very much illustrates the whole "war is 95% sitting around doing nothing, and 5% action" trope. Especially as it's based on a real life SEAL mission. I will say, the sound effects were the best I've ever heard in a cinema, but I expected...more I guess, it felt very short. Very much a film that critics will love but some viewers probably won't if they go into it blind.
75Black said:
I went to see this on the Easter Monday bank holiday and it's definitely a very marmite film. If you're expecting a very typical Hollywood war movie, it definitely isn't that. This film very much illustrates the whole "war is 95% sitting around doing nothing, and 5% action" trope. Especially as it's based on a real life SEAL mission. I will say, the sound effects were the best I've ever heard in a cinema, but I expected...more I guess, it felt very short. Very much a film that critics will love but some viewers probably won't if they go into it blind.
I felt that because, essentially, the only 'back story' offered was the young soldiers and their naive enthusiasm for the situation they were in, and about to go into, the lack of details about exactly what they were doing and why gave it a detached and unusually apolitical 'feel'. There were several very well done visual analogies for the futility of the whole enterprise and the way the 'badly guys' simply came out of the houses at the end and went back to their lives was another thought provoking touch. It was all the better for not being a 'Holywood' war film. I dont like war films, I feel sometimes, more often than not in fact, they glorify the whole enterprise and usually there is only one or two 'weak' characters carried along by the hoora strong ones. This film for me showed the reality of war from a detached almost neutral position although concentrating on one 'side', and the fact that they guys who were there told the story showed the disappasionate way soldiers view their 'job'. It's strange, I don't like war films yet three of my favourite films are The Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now and Black Hawk Down. I'll add this to that esteemed list.
I saw this last night, interesting take on the story. To me it is presented almost as a documentary than a story about something that happened.
I've never seen Navy Seals presented like this before in movies. They were scared, fell apart under attack, in shock and unable to fight...they presented as normal grunts, not elite super soldiers that Hollywood presents.
I liked the story alot, however it felt a bit disjointed. We hear about other units coming to them, that the other units were under attack etc, there's almost no explanation of what they were doing where they were etc.
Feels like it needed a director who knows how to tell a story to show us a broader picture of what else was going on. Can you imagine if Black Hawk Down stayed with just 1 unit for the entire duration of the movie and the only thing you know going on elsewhere is the radio conversations.
I get the choice is deliberate to put you in the frame of what the unit experienced, but I think it hurt my enjoyment of the movie overall tbh, it could have been so much better.
I've never seen Navy Seals presented like this before in movies. They were scared, fell apart under attack, in shock and unable to fight...they presented as normal grunts, not elite super soldiers that Hollywood presents.
I liked the story alot, however it felt a bit disjointed. We hear about other units coming to them, that the other units were under attack etc, there's almost no explanation of what they were doing where they were etc.
Feels like it needed a director who knows how to tell a story to show us a broader picture of what else was going on. Can you imagine if Black Hawk Down stayed with just 1 unit for the entire duration of the movie and the only thing you know going on elsewhere is the radio conversations.
I get the choice is deliberate to put you in the frame of what the unit experienced, but I think it hurt my enjoyment of the movie overall tbh, it could have been so much better.
Captain Obvious said:
I saw this last night, interesting take on the story. To me it is presented almost as a documentary than a story about something that happened.
I've never seen Navy Seals presented like this before in movies. They were scared, fell apart under attack, in shock and unable to fight...they presented as normal grunts, not elite super soldiers that Hollywood presents.
I liked the story alot, however it felt a bit disjointed. We hear about other units coming to them, that the other units were under attack etc, there's almost no explanation of what they were doing where they were etc.
Feels like it needed a director who knows how to tell a story to show us a broader picture of what else was going on. Can you imagine if Black Hawk Down stayed with just 1 unit for the entire duration of the movie and the only thing you know going on elsewhere is the radio conversations.
I get the choice is deliberate to put you in the frame of what the unit experienced, but I think it hurt my enjoyment of the movie overall tbh, it could have been so much better.
You have jist explained why I felt it was so much better than more traditional films with clear narratives. It was about showing the experience not telling a story, and for me, all the better for it. Each to their own though, it seems to have been a divisive tacticI've never seen Navy Seals presented like this before in movies. They were scared, fell apart under attack, in shock and unable to fight...they presented as normal grunts, not elite super soldiers that Hollywood presents.
I liked the story alot, however it felt a bit disjointed. We hear about other units coming to them, that the other units were under attack etc, there's almost no explanation of what they were doing where they were etc.
Feels like it needed a director who knows how to tell a story to show us a broader picture of what else was going on. Can you imagine if Black Hawk Down stayed with just 1 unit for the entire duration of the movie and the only thing you know going on elsewhere is the radio conversations.
I get the choice is deliberate to put you in the frame of what the unit experienced, but I think it hurt my enjoyment of the movie overall tbh, it could have been so much better.
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