Buffalo Soldiers
|
List Price: Our Price: $3.99 You Save: $11.00 (73%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.03 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Buffalo Soldiers
Movie Review: BUFFALO SOLDIERS
Summary: 5 Stars
Thank god for a film that satarises the army, not in a Sgt Bilko way either. I hope it rattles middle America and the current occupants of the oval office.Joaqin Phoneix is a great anti hero and the always brillant Ed Harris is great as an inept general.
Movie Review: this is a hilarious movie
Summary: 5 Stars
I didn't know anything about this movie but I realized Anna Paquin and Ed Harris were in it so I gave it a try and i'm glad I did. This is one of those movies that is funny but the humor is dark and the movie is very strange. I do reccomend it.Movie Review: Muddled black comedy elevated by excellent cast
Summary: 4 Stars
"Buffalo Soldiers" is essentially a version of Bill Murray's "Stripes," but only told by a guy who is really, really angry. It's still funny - even inspired, at times - but it's a humor fueled by rage. And that rage causes the story to make a couple of missteps.
Set in 1989 (note the perfect use of then-President Bush's plastic grin in several portraits) on an Army base in West Germany, "Buffalo Soldiers" informs the viewer that the majority of our fighting soldiers are simply there in order to escape a jail sentence. As a result, thieves and drug dealers rule the roost - the top MP is a villainous heroin dealer. The only virtuous soldier is the commanding officer, Colonel Berman (Ed Harris), who is a nice, incompetent buffoon more suited to running a vineyard than a regiment. (This is a wonderful supporting performance by Harris, by the way.)
Almost every Army movie has a "scrounger," the guy who can get things done in the cracks of the system and usually with a lot of charm. In "Buffalo Soldiers," that is Private Ray Elwood (Joaquin Phoenix), the company clerk. We see early on how smooth Elwood is as he simultaneously covers up a drug dealing enterprise while protecting the honor of a soldier who was killed playing tackle football indoors while stoned on about ten different substances - including the Pill. Elwood is a small-time heroin dealer who sells black market Mop & Glo and drives a Mercedes. He is one of the princes of the criminal Army.
His little realm gets invaded by "Topper," Sergeant Robert Lee (Scott Glenn, easily the most sinister Sergeant ever). Lee sizes up Elwood in an instant and brings him down about fifteen pegs - look for an inspired scene involving Lee's bullying of Elwood via "target practice." Lee is unbribable, connected to the general, but also dangerous in that Scott Glenn way.
Elwood also has his little world come apart due to a stoned tank crew on maneuvers. Intoxication leads to two dead American trucks drivers and two trucks full of unclaimed assault rifles. Elwood stumbles across the guns and instantly sees an angle. But he is forced by his connection to take raw narcotics rather than cash as compensation. Elwood, who makes his money by cooking the drugs into a distributable product, is soon playing a game that he does not control, and the bodies begin to mount up.
This is not one of those movies that gently mocks the Army while honoring it. There is nothing gentle or honorable in "Buffalo Soldiers." It is funny. It is dark. And it pulls no punches. While not a great satire in the class of "Thank You for Smoking," it is a worthy satire sure to appeal to the wicked sense of humor in all of us.
Movie Review: Buffalo Soldier
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm a media studies graduate student and an ex soldier myself. What's interesting is that others have called this film comedy and satirical, which it is. Certain truths are just that, satirical and comical. Only because it is a contradiction to the signification process of defining a soldier. That is, the ideological construction of "military" and "soldier". Bravo to Robert O'Connor and Eric Weiss for figuring out a method of capturing this contradictory world. It's the scene by scene, sequential action that tells all on the U.S Military. Soldiers peddling drugs ( I knew at least 3 of them per unit), black market (selling liquor rations to the locals in Korea was equal to having a second job for many), "sham" time (the guys playing football because that's all there is to do), cover ups (throw the guy out the window and get the spin doctors on the incident ASAP), insecure and dopey higher ups, supply personnel/MP's and anyone who can, abusing their jobs, drugs-drugs-and more drugs, everyone's looking to cash in or get ahead, this story captured that so well. What this film did was pull no punches. Every single soldier, now or then, can honestly say, "oh, I know some guys like that." Or, they can say, "yeah, the Army covers stuff up just like that." David O' Russell, attempted to capture some of the "reality" based military existence in Three Kings, but this film far exceeds his depiction. And, unfortunately, Buffalo Soldiers didn't get the discussion and attention it should have gotten. I know, it's a hard truth for the American public to accept. But unless you've been there.... But the bright light ahead is that, when it's time to pull it together, and get serious, soldiers can do that better than any individual on the face of this planet. Afterwall, it's what we're trained to do. But when there's nothing going on, unfortunately Buffalo Soldiers does a good job of depicting what's really going on. Even down to the guys getting wasted in the M1 tank (or some other FA tank), crushing cars, rolling over gas tanks and finding a way to haphazardly complete the mission, and getting the credit for completion when it's all over. My only problem with the film was the ending. But in a satrical depiction I guess it works. Basically, it's saying, if you can escape with your life, then you can escape conviction and go on with business as usual. That's true too. So I guess the film does get 5 stars!Movie Review: Restless soldiers...a good thing?
Summary: 4 Stars
Buffalo Soldiers had its first official release in Canada during the Toronto Film Festival on September 8, 2001. This was days before 9/11 when terrorists flew aircrafts into the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Miramax held the film back in concern of how some might react to the anti-war message depicted in the film. Almost a year and half later during the Sundance Film Festival, a woman verbally assaulted the filmmakers by stating that they were anti-American for making the film as she threw a water bottle towards the screen that accidentally hit Anna Paquin. Having this background information prior seeing the film brings the audience to the story in a completely different light, which builds up a pre-viewing atmosphere full of notions.Buffalo Soldiers is an interesting story about Specialist Ray Elwood (Joaquin Phoenix) who runs all kinds of scams on his military base in Germany during the final days of the Cold War when the Berlin Wall is about to plunge. When the new Top Sergeant Lee arrives to his base, there seems to be a new sheriff in town. Lee also happens to bring his daughter Robyn (Anna Paquin) who falls for Elwood. This is a recipe for disaster as Elwood discovers that he also has feelings for Robyn, and Robyn's father is out to get him by all means necessary. Buffalo Soldiers is a comic anti-war drama that is depicted through an atmosphere of boredom among young adults without much life experience and a lot of responsibility. This restlessness among the soldiers is captured with precise directing by Jordan and a good performance by the cast, which leaves the audience with a fine cinematic experience.