Buffalo Soldiers
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Movie Reviews of Buffalo Soldiers
Movie Review: "When there's peace, the war-like man attacks himself"
Summary: 3 Stars
BUFFALO SOLDIERS is a movie adaptation of Robert O'Connor's popular novel about a group of young U.S. soldiers at the Theodore Roosevelt U.S. Army Base in Stuttgart, West Germany in October 1989. Military clerk Ray Elwood (Joaquin Phoenix) is the mastermind of the operation. Along with his GI pals he deals drugs, steals supplies, and has a thriving black-market business. But his schemes begin to unravel when Sergeant Lee (Scott Glenn) decides to investigate Elwood's activities. And to make matters worse, Elwood pursues Lee's daughter without his permission.While viewing this DVD I was constantly confused about the intention of this film. Is it a comedy or a drama? Did the directors want their audience to walk away with a serious impression or laugh all the way through to the credits? Unfortunately this film couldn't make up its mind. Some of the scenes contained screwball comedy elements reminiscent of classic military movies such as STRIPS (i.e., stoned soldiers causing havoc by running the tank though the town). Other scenes attempted to portray the heartfelt emotions of the characters (i.e., Ed Harris coming to grips with the end of his military career). But the two polar opposites never successfully united to create a good movie.
I read all the press about this film when it was suppressed shortly after 9/11/01. But now after finally being able to watch it I can't believe that anybody had a problem with it. Clearly this is an instance of being hypersensitive. Why is this film controversial? It's surely not the first film to portray soldiers who don't follow protocol. What's more, it's set during 1989 - 15 years ago.
In short, BUFFALO SOLDIERS simply didn't work for me. There were too many frayed loose ends at the end that detracted from the whole. It is surely unfortunate that wonderful actor abilities such as Ed Harris and Scott Glenn were wasted in this dismal film.
Movie Review: Some pretty good extras...
Summary: 3 Stars
Nothing really wonderful but a commentary by the director which covers the bases (without going once into its troubled production and post-production history) and a couple of documentaries (one the electronic press kit and the other produced by the Sundance Channel) which aren't bad. If you're already into this type of film, it's probably worth the outlay.Movie Review: An alright movie
Summary: 3 Stars
Buffalo Soldiers is an alright movie, it has good actining, but the plot is a little off. Even though it's satarical, there's no reason why it should nake soldiers look bad. I have no problem with criticizing soldiers, but do it for a reason.Movie Review: Entertaining action film, sufficient plot and charismatic cast
Summary: 2 Stars
BUFFALO SOLDIERS (2001), is of interest to fans of Joaquin Phoenix,
Ed Harris and Scott Glenn, who comprise the star cast of this picture
taking placing in West Germany, before the Cold War ended, as the
Berlin Wall fell. It also is especially entertaining to those having
served in the military.
The story captures well the self-contained world of the military, in
terms of bases, discipline, the constant reminder of belonging to a
group, and the expectations imposed that must be met in terms of
uniformity, and standards that met by all in innumerable aspects of
conduct. The picture shows a few of these: the mess, drills, marches,
deployment exercises, etc. It also brings up the physical and
mental stress of being in a chain of command, where there is no
outsider, per se, who can come to a soldier's rescue, if there is
misconduct, abuse of authority, physical violence, even to one's life
in extreme and rare cases of bullying.
An intriguing suggestion made by the movie, is that the volunteer
nature of enrollment (vs. conscription) has resulted in a lack of
recruited manpower, leading the Army to force convicts to serve, such
that many of these bring their prior shady activities to their new
place of employment. We see drug users and drug labs built on an Army
base, narco-trafficking, as well as black market reselling of Army
commodities. The picture shows the numerous tentacles of those
operations, as perhaps 30 or more are on the take, to look the other
way, or participate actively.
The entertainment goal is met, such as from a few moments of juvenile
humor (a tank runs over a car, gas station), or the mini-romance
with Phoenix and a teenage girl, played by Anna Paquin, but mostly
from thrill and action aspects, culminating in a climax of
explosions, and a fire fight and man-to-man combat.
Some interesting lessons are learned by Phoenix, as he tries to pull
out of his deal, being told by the international arms dealer that he
can't do that, under penalty of losing his life, as up until then he
was small-time, dealing only with commodities, not rifles or grenade
launchers.
The story also underlines how some individuals in the chain of
command (in civilian life, supervisors, bosses, but here, officers,
sergeants) due to lack of oversight can create their own rules, and
get away with it, preparing an ordeal for their rivals in the
organization, such that they are themselves the judge, jury and
executioner, later leaving appearances of either a suicide event or
of an accident of their coworkers.
Overall, this work is entertaining because it intentionally doesn't
take itself too seriously, has a charismatic cast, the required
ingredients for an action film, and a sufficient plot to keep people
interested for 90 mins.
Movie Review: Entertaining action film, sufficient plot and charismatic cast
Summary: 2 Stars
BUFFALO SOLDIERS (2001), is of interest to fans of Joaquin Phoenix,
Ed Harris and Scott Glenn, who comprise the star cast of this picture
taking placing in West Germany, before the Cold War ended, as the
Berlin Wall fell. It also is especially entertaining to those having
served in the military.
The story captures well the self-contained world of the military, in
terms of bases, discipline, the constant reminder of belonging to a
group, and the expectations imposed that must be met in terms of
uniformity, and standards that met by all in innumerable aspects of
conduct. The picture shows a few of these: the mess, drills, marches,
deployment exercises, etc. It also brings up the physical and
mental stress of being in a chain of command, where there is no
outsider, per se, who can come to a soldier's rescue, if there is
misconduct, abuse of authority, physical violence, even to one's life
in extreme and rare cases of bullying.
An intriguing suggestion made by the movie, is that the volunteer
nature of enrollment (vs. conscription) has resulted in a lack of
recruited manpower, leading the Army to force convicts to serve, such
that many of these bring their prior shady activities to their new
place of employment. We see drug users and drug labs built on an Army
base, narco-trafficking, as well as black market reselling of Army
commodities. The picture shows the numerous tentacles of those
operations, as perhaps 30 or more are on the take, to look the other
way, or participate actively.
The entertainment goal is met, such as from a few moments of juvenile
humor (a tank runs over a car, gas station), or the mini-romance
with Phoenix and a teenage girl, played by Anna Paquin, but mostly
from thrill and action aspects, culminating in a climax of
explosions, and a fire fight and man-to-man combat.
Some interesting lessons are learned by Phoenix, as he tries to pull
out of his deal, being told by the international arms dealer that he
can't do that, under penalty of losing his life, as up until then he
was small-time, dealing only with commodities, not rifles or grenade
launchers.
The story also underlines how some individuals in the chain of
command (in civilian life, supervisors, bosses, but here, officers,
sergeants) due to lack of oversight can create their own rules, and
get away with it, preparing an ordeal for their rivals in the
organization, such that they are themselves the judge, jury and
executioner, later leaving appearances of either a suicide event or
of an accident of their coworkers.
Overall, this work is entertaining because it intentionally doesn't
take itself too seriously, has a charismatic cast, the required
ingredients for an action film, and a sufficient plot to keep people
interested for 90 mins.