Hell in the Pacific
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Movie Reviews of Hell in the Pacific
Movie Review: Powerful study & psychological drama but only two stars. Great for most.
Summary: 4 Stars
I find Boorman's direction to be fantastic. As others note two military officers from opposite sides recognize each other. Mifune especially seeks with all his cunning to kill Marvin while the latter struggles very hard just to fill his canteen with drinking water. The tensions, very strong at the beginning slowly dissipate as both realize taking out each
other might be very difficult but via cooperation--even despite the language barriers--two heads can equal the results of three. Mifune shows
his tenderness first. But both play outstanding roles. While trying to develop the peace, Marvin reads a military manual that mandates troops always to kill the enemy. Their keen attention to the nonverbals, even as both seem not to be observing is a case study for those intererested
in interpersonal communication. Marvin brings in new vitality once he
recognizes there is bamboo on the island. Yielding to each other in
a collaborative manner, the raft is built and launched. Then I got the impression they had to fight high waves without food on the ocean for perhaps four days. Both are exhausted. Discovering the new island is a
dream, that neither perhaps thought would occur. They forage through
the deserted military hospital, each finding things of special interest and then dressed neatly as military professionals toast each other
countlessly with a big bottle of booze. I wasn't ready for the end but
tried to foresee possibilities. For those who can take a movie with very
limited dialogue, scores of nonverbals and two superb actors, this movie
is a must. Those who enjoy more group drama or romantic entertainment would be bored. I am glad to have found this movie in my collection. The VHS version plays very well.
Movie Review: Pull together or die apart together.
Summary: 4 Stars
This is both a serious movie and a parable. Toshirô Mifune plays Captain Tsuruhiko
Kuroda, a proud Japanese Naval officer and Lee Marvin plays a downed American Pilot. They both end up on a deserted small island. They are mortal enemies, but somehow when you are both staring death in the face, it is easier to make common cause against it. The story of the movie is how they overcome their hatred for each other (in the generic - wartime sense) to find a way to be found, signal for help, or get off the island somehow, someway. Both actors are superb.
The parable is appropriate for a world ravaged by two-world wars the previous sixty years and now facing nuclear annihilation. We need to pull together or we will die at each other's through for no good reason. While I don't want to reveal what happens, it is instructive how vanishing cooperation and friendship are once the immediate threat seems to be past.
As I watched the movie, I could see how the Cast Away and Enemy Mine both seemed to learn and use things from this film.
I think it is a pretty good film that should be seen yet today.
Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI
Movie Review: Stereotypes are shattered in this WW2 classic. AMAZING!!
Summary: 4 Stars
I am surprised that this movie is not more well known. I just happened to borrow a copy on VHS from my aunt, and the movie simply blew my mind. It shows another side of WW2 and really blasts apart the stereotypes of the Japanese soldier portrayed in American propaganda films and also the American soldier as many Japanese were led to believe. The movie pretty much goes like this : Lee Marvin crashes into the ocean somewhere in the pacific and ends up on an island with the enemy, a Japanese soldier. Their fears and angers are played out as they both struggle to capture one another. They fight back and forth and also play mind games with one another in order to gain the upper hand. Finally, they learn that in order to survive they must put aside their animosity and work together. They slowly become friends and grow to trust one another and work together to build a small raft to escape the island. The Cinematography and acting in the movie are top notch, the only complaint I have was the original ending, but I have heard the DVD comes with alternate endings. I was also pleasantly surprised that John Boorman directed this film. SEE THIS MOVIE!Movie Review: Hell of a good movie!
Summary: 4 Stars
For a 1968 Hollywood-bankrolled war movie, HELL IN THE PACIFIC was almost right up there with the best of "foreign" films of the Sixties. Featuring only two characters throughout---a Japanese officer and an American officer marooned together on a otherwise unpopulated Pacific island in 1944---the film puts us immediately into the difficulties facing the two men, who are enemies by their circumstances and literally cannot understand each other. The story of how they deal with their plight unfolds in ways that make perfect sense, and both Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune as the two exiles give performances that are both believable and affecting. In fact, the only thing that keeps this from being a five-star movie for me is the very end, which, as I suspected, was grafted on at the behest of the studio heads [cf, director John Boorman's autobiography, ADVENTURES OF A SUBURBAN BOY]. The original ending, included on this DVD release as a special feature, makes much more sense and would have been better. But up until then you're watching one of the best war movies ever made.Movie Review: With little-to-no dialogue, this film is one to watch
Summary: 4 Stars
My fiance got me the DVD as a present to me on his birthday. It sat for a month and then we finally watched it together. I was amazed that there was no dialogue... really. Very little. And when we were watching the DVD, we did not choose the option for subtitles and only realized that option after we'd seen the film. Overall it is a film to watch -- really watch. After you see it once without the subtitles, watch it again with them. Makes it a totally different experience. The acting and directing is incredible and one is left wondering, what the screenplay of this film actually looked like. Not too many special features but there is an alternate ending that is interesting.