Ralph's Movie Reviews: RESCUE DAWN

Sunday, August 5, 2007

RESCUE DAWN

Action\adventure
True story

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Zach Grenier: Squad leader aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ranger
Christian Bale: U.S. Navy pilot Lieutenant Dieter Dengler
Steve Zahn: U.S. Navy helicopter pilot Lt. Duane Martin
Jeremy Davies: a civilian Air America pilot, Eugene (Gene) DeBruin

REVIEW
Unlike most war stories this one is not loud and bombastic. Apart from the opening scenes, this fact-based story is all about how people deal with an unpleasant situation, the effect it has on them and their relationships with others.
The slow pace allows for ample character development and the performances of the three buddies are nothing short of amazing. Shooting mostly with existing light and right in the midst of it contributes to the feeling of watching a documentary.

With crisp editing (sometimes too crisp as we don’t get to see what comes next) and an unusual sound track that adds just the right tone to things, the two hours slip by if you are into this kind of thing.

CLASSIFICATION

for some sequences of intense war violence and torture (and I might add because of some really yucky stuff they get served).

P.S.
Dengler’ squadron commander refers to him as a "Flight Lieutenant". This is a junior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and in many Commonwealth countries including Canada, Australia and New Zealand. There is no such rank in the American armed forces.

Dengler tells his buddies he is engaged to be married upon his return to the U.S.A. yet he is wearing a wedding band.

While being interviewed, Dengler takes a drink of water and puts down the glass, now half full. As he gets up to leave, the glass is now three-quarters full.

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my ratings system

I've always thought that telling too much about a movie or warning someone about a "twist" at the end deprives the person the pleasure of seeing it as it unfolds, so I don’t do it. You may not always agree with my rating of course, but at least it is an unbiased opinion unlike some of the full time professional reviewers who are on the studio’s payroll.

A few movies you won’t see any review from me:

Scary movies: I’m the world’s biggest chicken and just hate getting the crap scared out of me. I can handle an unexpected door slam, that kind of thing, but a movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat…not for me. Sorry.
Movies geared to the young teen and pre-teen crowd with dialog comprising mostly of crude remarks, awful jokes and lots of rude, socially unacceptable body noises. "The Spy that Shagged Me" comes to mind. (I wonder if the kids know what the British verb to shag someone really means? They probably do; I bet you it’s the parents who haven’t a clue).
Sometimes Hollywood gets on a roll and they produce a series of movies that are all very much alike. For example movies about the CIA were very popular and so we had The Bourne Identity and Bad Company and The Sum of All Fears. They all had the same basic theme and it becomes repetitive. I will see some, but not all of them.

FYI this is my rating system:

0 stars = Terrible: so bad it’s not worth talking about; in fact, I’d pay you not to go
= Lousy: I actually got up and walked out before the end it was just that bad (no kidding)
= Not so good: thought about walking out but hung in just in case it got better (but it didn’t)
= A so-so good movie: I enjoyed it somewhat but wasn’t all that crazy about it
= A really good movie: I recommend seeing it
= An excellent movie you just got to see! I suggest you put it on your "To Do List" it’s that good.

some favourite websites

For those into it, Nitpickers at

has more movie mistakes than you could ever imagine. My contributions can be seen if you check out the Nitpickers Registry and click on the link Nitpickers Listed by Nitpicker Number, select the group 45,401 - 45,500 and drill down to number 45411. Although I have 56 nitpicks to my credit, some have almost 2,000. You wonder sometimes where they find the time to do it.