|
 oel Schumacher's "Tigerland", a 1999 movie about
enlistees and reluctant draftees trying to survive the brutality of basic
training in preparation for shipping off to Vietnam in 1971, might have been a
pretty darn good movie. That is, if you hadn't already seen Kubrick's "Full
Metal Jacket", which spent half of its running length on Marine boot camp
before taking the film to Vietnam during the Tet Offensive.
"Tigerland" would still be a decent movie even if you've seen
Kubrick's movie, but it would also be just more of the same-o same-o if you've
seen another Vietnam Is Hell movie. "Platoon", "Apocalypse
Now", and numerous others come to mind.
The point is, "Tigerland" is old hat, and as a
result its serious meditations on life and death and what constitutes the
"making of a man" and the "color of a coward" is, well, old
hat. Which isn't a bad thing, since director Joel Schumacher has started the
path to redemption for the miserable existence of "Batman and Robin"
and "Batman
Forever" with this gritty, grounded drama. (His 2003 film, the exciting
and colorful "Phone
Booth", which also stars Colin Farrell, was also fun and immensely
enjoyable.)
Here, Farrell plays Bozz, a Texas boy with leadership
abilities, but lacking the desire to go to war or, as he puts it, "kill
little Vietnamese children in rice paddies." While in basic training Bozz
finds friendship in Paxton (Matthew Davis), a New Yorker who has voluntarily
enlisted to go to Vietnam. Paxton plans on being a writer, and wants the
experience of war and combat to write about. Paxton is, in short, everything
Bozz isn't. While the two men have different perspectives on the war, they
manage to become close friends anyway. Unfortunately not everyone is as
competent as Bozz and Paxton. One of the recruits, another enlistee name Wilson
(Shea Whigham), has "psychopath" written all over his forehead.
For "Tigerland", Schumacher has shrugged off the
constraints of Hollywood gloss in favor of Dogme-like filmmaking. The director
uses handheld cameras extensively and employs Ryan's War POV for the film's more
frenetic combat training sequences. (The film never actually shifts to Vietnam.
It ends with the recruits shipping out.) The movie is dirty and gritty and
sometimes hard to make out who is who because of all the dark patches of
shadows. I guess that was the whole purpose -- to put us into the middle of the
misery and dreck of jungle warfare. Well done, although I don't quite care for
the "let's make it look cheap even though we have a bunch of money"
gimmick. It reeks of self-indulgence.
The screenplay is probably the movie's weakest element. It
offers up a host of familiar characters and situations. Again, I go back to
Kubrick's "Full
Metal Jacket". There is not a single character in
"Tigerland" that hasn't already appeared in "Jacket". The
result is that "Tigerland" lacks originality. Who didn't know that the
first white soldier to call a black person the "n" word would turn out
to not only be the villain, but also the resident psychopath? (And yes, he does
have a Southern accent. Stereotype much, Hollywood?) Let's not forget about the
Drill Instructor who beats a soldier to within an inch of his life. Or the other
D.I. who tries to electrocute a soldier in the scrotum. Give me a break.
The only thing worth noting about "Tigerland",
besides its derivative screenplay and oh-so-familiar themes, is the performance
of Colin Farrell, who actually made me believe he's a good ol boy from Texas
with a good head on his shoulders. Farrell does good work here, and I'll even go
so far as to say that taking this role was a risky move for him. But it pays off
for Farrell, and as a result I now see him as more than just another pretty boy
Hollywood is trying to force down our throats. The boy can act, that's for sure.
(Ben Affleck needs to take notes. Risk, Ben. It's called risk. Look it
up.)
It goes without saying that director Joel Schumacher knew
what he was getting into with this movie. There's no doubt he's trying to wash
off the stink of his "Batman" movies. I congratulate him for taking
the risk, although he'll need to make another couple of these movies for me to
forgive him for killing off the Caped Crusader.
|
