Giving opinions for several years and showing like a fine vintage
Giving opinions for several years and showing like a fine vintage
Member since:11.07.2000
Reviews:625
Members who trust:55
When a film makes out that the US military aren’t exactly clean, well it’s a sure bet that it won’t have an easy ride on its release in the states. When screened at Sundance 2003 it caused one audience member to hurl abuse and a water bottle. When the heat died down the film was still only released on limited screens hence its poor box office. It’s a shame as the film is actually not bad; surprisingly UK audiences picked up on it and it done reasonable business over here.
It is 1989 and the Berlin wall is about to fall. American troops are really at a loss for what to do. Ray Elwood (Joaquin Phoenix) is one of them, to make life a little easier who partakes in black market dealings. Mainly he’s responsible for the supply of Heroin throughout the barracks. He nice nature puts him good stead with the inept commander (Ed Harris). This allows him to conduct his business under the radar without detection. However it could have something to do with the fact that the commander doesn’t really have any control over his men. Things turn sour when a new sergeant (Scott Glenn) turns up with a mission to clean things up. He clashes with Elwood and then makes it his personal mission to destroy Elwood once he starts seeing his daughter (Anna Paquin).
Buffalo Soldiers works as a dark comedy with a good level of satire thrown in. There is one outrageous scene that sees some drugged up soldiers pilot a tank completely off course, through a market, down hills, an exploding petrol station, through a forest and amazingly onto their intended destination. It really is funny stuff in the drug-fuelled mould of Fear and Loathing. There are also other great moments such as Elwood’s prized car getting blown to pieces and the commander’s inept attempts at impressing his superiors at a party.
Director Gregor Jordan handles the film well. He never makes things too silly; he keeps a good balance between the dark and light sides of the story. There is quite a bit of violence in the film but it serves the story well without being too sensational. Jordan also gets the best out of his cast and certainly puts actors into roles you wouldn’t expect. For example you would expect the roles of Scott Glenn and Ed Harris to normally be reversed however it works. It actually makes me want to see Harris in a comedy, there should also be more of Scott Glenn in films. Anna Paquin doesn’t have a lot to work with in the male dominated cast but she holds her own.
Buffalo Soldiers for me was an entertaining 90-minutes that worked on a number of levels. I’d happily sit through it again and I would say it’s well worth a rental.
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Production Year: 1957 - Drama - Director: Leo McCarey - Original Language: English - Classification: Universal - Starring: Cathleen Nesbitt, Deborah Kerr, Cary Grant, Richard Denning, Neva Patterson, Fortunio Bonanova
Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
It's 1989 and bored US soldier Ray Elwood (Joaquin Phoenix) is finding some original ways ... more
to keep himself busy. Tuck on duty as Batallion Clerk at a US Army base in West Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall Elwood is maintaining a lucrative side...
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Mar 26th, 2004
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