Rating of
2/4
Meh
Nerva - wrote on 03/27/10
I find one of my major annoyances about the movie industry is why they make a movie trailer and portray a movie to be completely different from it's actual story. In the trailer this movie is made out to be almost a slasher-esque tale of a man who loses his sanity when he comes back from war and begins torturing his family. In actuality thats far from what the movie is actually like. Unlike the trailer I think this movie was trying to show a real side to the post tramatic stress disorder some solders experience when they return. If it had been a life time movie of something along those lines I could see it being a decent watch, a humanistic tale.. Very far from the thrilling suspense promised to us in the trailer but not a complete wash. The movie is very slow moving, and with that hyped up trailer your just sitting around waiting for the action to come in, which never really does. I think it's a good idea for a movie like this, especially during a time like this to shed some light on the issues facing returning solders, but unless you're really in the mood for a human interest tale don't bother. The acting was another thing that urked me. The best acting in the movie by far was done by the children. Natalie Portman was a rare miss as a cold and emotionless wife. For a wife who has been with her husband since they were in highschool, raised two children together... it's not that she doesn't care it's that she doesn't seem to care enough. While its understandable that the wife may have already prepared herself for her husbands death due to his job, you could never fully prepare for something like that. And while she had children to raise I think the story would have gone much better if they showed her actually dealing with the death other than just carrying on as if nothing happned other than she didn't have time to do her makeup and she glances at an unopened letter every now and again. Same can be said for when he is found alive, I couldnt imagine any wife who has had to mourn the loss of their husband only to find out he is really alive simply showing a small smile at the revelation. Along with their reunion it just seemed cold and unemotional for a story that is supposed to shed light on the emotional side of what happens to solders in war.
