We’ve had plenty of ‘war is hell’ movies, so it’s good in this post-Iraq age we start to see the effects of the aftermath before we rush into any more ill advised conflicts. And who better to show us, than through the eyes of some Vietnam vets.
Our intrepid three are the unassuming Doc Sheppard (Steve Carrel), the raucous Sal (Bryan Cranston) and Reverend Richard, formerly known as Mueller the Mauler (Laurence Fishburne), three long lost Vietnam war buddies. They’re brought together by Doc who tracks them down to help him bury his son, who has died a ‘hero’ in Iraq.
During their little odyssey they’re accompanied by an African-American marine, (J Quinton Johnson) who was the deceased’s best friend. (Geez, he hides his emotions well. It almost feels tacked on.) He has to accompany the body back home, after his father decides against a state funeral. His name is Washington, which I guessed, as this script lacks anything approaching originality.
There are lots of chats between the three, and four, which highlight the lies and hypocrisy of this disgraced war. There was no filming of coffins to protect the public from reality. Even those shot in friendly fire or while on minor duties are buried as ‘heroes’. Presidents send others into the same hell they dodged. This is set in 2003, but nothing has changed.
While a lot of this film is worthy and weighty, it’s a pretty obvious script. The characters talk in platitudes and cliches and our three heroes fall into stereotypes: the innocent, (Doc) with an angel (or a Reverend) and a devil (Sal) on each shoulder. The Colonel is an angry stereotype that gets over excited about a burial suit, that goes nowhere. Even Washington’s character is an awkward plot point which makes no sense.
Cranston has fun and goes to town with Sal; Fishburne goes as far as he can. It’s impressive what these actors do with such a stodgy script, and the scene where they reminisce over ‘Disneyland’ – a strip of bars and brothels – felt like a lot of it was ad libbed and improvised. It was fun, but otherwise, it had no point, other than what he saw drove him to religion, but we already knew that. Writer-Director Richard Linklater and co-writer (Darryl Poniscan) should have let the actors ad-lib all the way through. It would have made for better dialogue. There are characters and scenes which should have been cut.
These actors go as far as they can to raise this film, as the points it makes are important. They seem like they’re fighting a pointless battle, just like Vietnam and Iraq – places where victory was claimed, but we still question whether it was worth it. This isn’t a bad film, but it had me asking the same questions.
Con’s Score: 3 flapping flags
Con Nats – Theatre Now & On The Screen
