Tigerland (2000)

Excellent military and FARRELL movie

I am reviewing this movie in 8/08 and was thrilled I got to see it. Colin Farrell has made many movies over his career often to mixed reviews. He seems to either be really good or not good at all. But he has that star presence and I must admit he is one of my favorites. Anyone with any doubts as to the acting chops of Colin Farrell must see this movie. His acting here shows he is among the top in his field and he is capable of anything. It is an acting tour de force.

This film is important on many levels and I think it was very underrated. It truly deserves a place in film history as one of the best films about war. And it manages to do this without having any battle scenes or even making it to the war.

It takes place in the army training program and shows what all this endures emotionally and physically. The movie is fully carried on the shoulders of Colin Farrell. He plays army infantryman private Bozz and has a very strong, rebellious personality while being very intelligent and full of potential at the same time.

I don't want to give away more of the plot. It is a very real, intense emotional movie about the Vietnam War. The whole ensemble cast is incredible and I have not watched a film that managed to keep me on the edge of my seat, emotionally involved and that also left me with much to think about in a long time. Colin Farrell deserved Oscar attention for this.

Highly recommended. August 27, 2008

...military 'stereotypes'? Not even that.

After seeing the movie, I was shocked to discover that it was 'based on' a book written by someone who had been through Tigerland himself and served a tour in Vietnam during the period depicted in the film.

It would seem that 'based on' leaves a lot of room for artistic liberty. Perhaps the film makers should have set aside more of what was clearly a small budget for the services of a military consultant ...maybe then they wouldn't have referred to a field phone as a 'radio', have been more accurate with the uniforms, and not relied so heavily on dialogue and mannerisms that could have only been based on what someone who had never spent a day in uniform 'thought' soldiers spoke and acted like.

This movie needed the services of Dale Dye ...badly!

June 2, 2007

A fascinating film littered with young actors with talent coming out of their ears!

For anyone who feels that Colin Farrell is just a pretty face I say watch this movie. `Tigerland' marks Colin's big break, and this film, this role, should have landed him plenty of meatier roles. As Private Roland Bozz, a defiant soldier training for Vietnam, Farrell exhibits every sign of a true talent, a true actor and a destined star. His performance is controlled, relatable and entirely believable. While watching him move, react and interact with his surroundings and his fellow soldiers you feel connected to him in ways only a masterful actor can make you. This, my friends, is acting at its finest.

`Tigerland' is gritty and raw, thanks in large part to Joel Schumacher's excellent direction, and it's that raw realism that makes for an even more impressive and entertaining ride. As these men conflict with one another, their emotions whether rage or compassion spilling out like blood from an open wound, the viewer is moved to contemplate their plights and their true character.

When Jim Paxton enlists he does so not fully understanding what he's getting himself into. He longs to write about the war first hand and so to him this is more like a experience. Roland on the other hand has no interest in being there. He was drafted and thus hates the very idea of fighting and possibly dying in Vietnam. The problem though, or not problem but more like irony of it all, is that Bozz is actually quite the gifted soldier. He's strong, determined and loyal and he has leadership skills that don't go unnoticed by his superiors as well as his fellow peers. Using these skills to help his friends get discharged instead of honing them to become the soldier they want him to become Bozz is soon faced with a choice, a decision that could very well change his life forever.

With exceptional performances by Farrell and Matthew Davis, not to mention Clifton Collins Jr. and Shea Whigham, `Tigerland' serves as more than a brilliant war film, it serves as a catapult for the young talent of today, young actors who are worth so much more than the fluff roles they seem to be getting nowadays. Here's to hoping that more films like this come along for these young actors so they don't go down as the bunch that could have been great. It's nice to see Colin finally getting some meaty roles, and Clifton was great in `Capote', but there's so much more talent in these men...it's now Hollywood's job to capitalize on it. January 29, 2007

This is a "must see" military movie.

This movie focuses on the people that join the army and go through the infantry school(the worst job in the military). It really spotlights how human personalities clash in the worst possible way under serious stress. Not campy like full metal jacket, but from more of a contemporary viewpoint. July 20, 2006

War and waste have a lot in common

Twenty-five years after the Vietnam war, another film about it, and yet it is not about Vietnam at all. It concentrates on the training marines got in the early 1970s when everything was already lost and the US tried to find a way out without knowing how. One more film about marine-training, will you say, and wrong you will be again because there is a rub somewhere. One of the new marines is just the very type that rebels against any authority, any hierarchy. His presence changes everything. It is very hard for him and for the other men up to the moment when he is entrusted with the commanding position in his unit. An officer felt that he had the power to be in command, though he was rebellious because he was afraid of it. And this captain was right. He creates a rather relaxed atmosphere and he is able to feel the value of his men, those who will be able to go through the war, to be a real help to the others, and those who would be a danger to everyone. He manages the weak ones and the dangerous ones so that they get out before going to Vietnam. And he finally goes with his men and disappears with them, so says the film. This film is about military training. It takes more than authority to train men for battle. It takes guts and humanity, even if at times it also takes some decision-making and some violence. But altogether it is a shame to sacrifice such men in a war when they could have been brilliant assets for the country and its development instead of a war that has no chance whatsoever to be won. We should meditate this simple truth over and over again. Human values are so much more human when they take part in a constructive human project, and war is never, absolutely never, a constructive project.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, Universit? Paris Dauphine, Universit? Paris I Panth?on Sorbonne
April 12, 2006

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