Decent Modern War films
After quite a while after I blogged about my favourite Modern War films, I had a thought about other Modern War films out there. Though most of them aren't exactly my personal favourite, they're still at least worth watching for interest. Some of them still include very popular cast members and directed by known directors.
After the success with the Jason Bourne films, Paul Greengrass directed a war drama which includes Matt Damon in Baghdad during the 2003 Invasion of Iraq.
The film has a sensitive subplot based around the involvement of the US government in the Iraq War and the resolutions which the politicians 'hoped' would bring the country together. Critics labelled the film as 'Anti-American'.The film is named after the International Zone for operations, and Damon plays a U.S. Army Officer who becomes embroiled into finding the answers to the W.M.D. programs to where he needs to find a nation wanted fugitive Iraqi General.
The film has the same style of editing and entertaining action as Greengrass made with his Bourne films. It's quite slow in moments, but most of its scenes are quite effective and solid enough.
Courage Under Fire (1996)
This film depends on your taste. If you like Denzel Washington and the drama and thriller films where he uncovers a mystery then it might be interesting. If you don't, I wouldn't recommend it.
This is a war drama from director Edward Zwick, the film follows a Lieutenant (Denzel Washington) who reviews the merits of a fallen commander (Meg Ryan) during the Gulf War.
Though it is cheesy in moments, it is a dramatic story about honour and loyalty and it depicts the disasters in war and has shocking aftermath when it eventually unravels the mystery.
This is another war directed by Edward Zwick on this post. Blood Diamond shows effective brutality and emotional drama where a country is torn apart by a bitter conflict for African Conflict Diamonds between Government Loyalists and Insurgent Rebels.
Leonardo DiCaprio plays a South African mercenary and Djimon Hounsou plays Solomon Vandy, a Mende fisherman. Both their fates are joined to recover a rare pink diamond. This film gave DiCaprio an Oscar Nomination.
My personal problem with the film, however, is that I think it's too moralistic and a bit overlong for the story. Some scenes show moments which show too much righteousness and others drag on a bit too long. Even so, there are moments that are thrilling and connecting to the environment when it shows brutality to child soldiers and how they're recruited and trained.
Act of Valour (2012)
This is an interesting fictional war film and to be honest, you can't really talk about it unless you see it.
It's not bad, but it's not fantastic either. The main issue with this film is also the main advantage. You can see at the bottom of the cover. "Featuring real-life Navy Seals". People who do the activities shown in the film for a living.
The film has entertaining action scenes (the kind of action that makes Call of Duty popular), it has an interesting story from beginning to end, and it looks well produced.
It can be corny and cheesy from time to time, and the acting is flat. I'm saying the acting's bad, it's just flat. Barely any emotion from the characters. But aside from that, the film is still pretty cool to watch.
The Kingdom (2007)
My personal issue with it is that it's slow throughout the majority of the film and its cinematography as a 2000s vibe (a shaky camera, quick scenes, and close-up shots).
Still, the film is still worth a watch for anyone who is curious and it has realistic pacing from having a lot of build-up to having an ending firefight as the climax.
Forces Spéciales (Special Forces) (2011)
This is a French fictional War film that involves a small Commando unit that has to rescue a journalist from the Taliban just at the Pakistani border from Afghanistan.
It's entertaining in a French cliche manner. For a film that has a budget of $11.2 Million, I think it's entertaining and not too bleak. It's got some good action scenes, the characters are easy to understand, and it has some light-hearted scenes to it.
The problems are that it's a bit cliche to glorify the French a bit too much. I know it's dedicated to all the French soldiers who died in Afghanistan and Iraq, but the way I've from a friend is that it doesn't depict to what they actually during that time.
On top of that, there scenes that seem similar to other known war films and there's a British villain amongst the Taliban.
Still, I personally think it's fun to watch and it has some emotional scenes to it. That would make this an underrated war film that can be worth watching for the action and adventure.
12 Strong (2018)
This is a Hollywood produced film which came out fairly recently. The film is based straight after 9/11 where 12 members of U.S. Army Special Forces were going to be the first to fight back in Afghanistan against Al-Qaeda.
The film is jingoistic and frequently cliche in terms of it's setting and storytelling, but the star cast for the film and action fight scenes are pros that make it stand out. Starring Chris Hemsworth, Michael Shannon, and Michael Pena. 12 Strong shows a story of courage and resolve against uneven odds.
Sand Castle is a Netflix distributed film that's based on true events and the film writer's experience in the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. It centres around a young soldier of the US Army where he and his platoon are tasked with Special Forces to restore water to a village.
The film had a combination of average and mixed reviews from Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic. The film is decent compared to most Modern War films.
Sand Castle has some advantages though. The fact that it's written from the writer's experience reminds of Platoon, the atmosphere is understandable, it looks well-produced, and it has realistic performances from Nicholas Hoult (Mad Max: Fury Road), Henry Cavil (Man of Steel), and Tommy Flanagan (Gladiator).
It's an ordinary War Drama that good at showing how every attempt to restore in Iraq was met only by another struggle of fighting people who showed themselves as an enemy.
Jarhead (2005)
This biographical war drama doesn't focus on any heroic fighting or even combat. It instead focuses on U.S. Marines which have to deal with the unbearable stress of dealing with lonely and uneventful days at war.Jarhead is based on Anthony Swofford's best-selling memoir that tells his experience in the First Persian Gulf War and it's accurate at capturing the anticipation for combat. I personally think it's like a modern version of Full Metal Jacket because it's accurate at capturing psychological challenges of Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm. From Training Camp to being lead on patrol, the film features a young Marine Sniper who ready for violence and action that might await for him. But as the film continues, we notice that Swofford's Desert Storm experience doesn't go the way he was hoping for.
Jarhead has got powerful performances from Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, Jaime Foxx, and Chris Cooper and packed with and beautiful cinematography from Roger Deakins. Sam Mendes certainly shows how soldiers interact before the storm hits and how some individuals can become their own worst enemy.
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A Private War (2018)
Based on the accounts of the War Correspondent, Marie Colvin, A Private War stars Rosamund Pike as Marie Colvin herself as it tells her reports on war crimes and civilian depression that happened in various places like Sri Lanka, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, before she died in Syria. And the film shows how she risked her life to tell the world about it.
I wanted to watch the film interested in the story.
The film feels emotional touching and shows after-effects from the violence and disasters of warfare. I got depressed by the end of the film. If you like biographical films which are emotional and depressing, this would be worth watching.
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