December 4, 2001

2:45 AM

Want to escape CNN's round-the-clock war coverage? Don't head for the theater. Faster than Lee Marvin could say "Dirty Dozen," Hollywood is rounding up its good-looking troops, rallying the editing rooms, and launching a war-time celluloid offensive. Groovy. And just when I'd started getting bored with the real deal...
posted by Bixby23 (6 comments total)

It will be interesting to note if the military-themed films will focus on action, such as 'Behind Enemy Lines', rather than a more personal and realistic portrayal of war (e.g. Saving Pvt. Ryan). ‘Behind Enemy Lines’ was fun in the sense that ‘Top Gun’ was fun but ‘Behind’ had only a single scene that conveyed the tragedies of war.

War—shrink-wrapped with a guaranteed happy ending! Now with 100% non-atrocities! Available at a theater near you!
posted by sexymofo at 4:17 AM on December 4, 2001

sexymofo: wait for Black Hawk Down (if it's as good as the book).
posted by transient at 4:50 AM on December 4, 2001

Hollywood's trying to catch up to the mood of the country. The entertainment moguls assumed people wouldn't want to see explosions, combat and the like after 9/11, only to be proven wrong once again. (Movies like The Siege were the hottest video rentals.)
Well, I'd never seen anything on any screen to match the destruction that played live on my TV on 9/11, and films like Armageddon and Independence Day will always remind me of that, but it's not like I'd ever forget anyway, and pyrotechnic special effects will never lose their charms for me. (But as some low-budget filmmeister once said, "Large breasts are the cheapest special effect of all." Works for me.)
posted by StOne at 7:00 AM on December 4, 2001

"No Man's Land" and "Kandahar" are two genuinely interesting and deserving movies, one about the war in Bosnia, the other about the situation in Afghanistan -- but somehow I have a hunch they'll be smothered by the Hollywood juggernaut of "Behind Enemy Lines" et al.

If you can catch either one of these, go. If you have a choice, I recommend "Kandahar" as the superior film. It's stark, surreal, and very touching.
posted by muckster at 8:12 AM on December 4, 2001

It's all hype and post-prod marketing. All these so-called post Sept. 11 war movies have been in production for years. Wait 12-18 months and then we'll see if Hollywood got on the bandwagon in a big way or not. I'm thinking not. We'll have other fixations by then, which is as it should be.
posted by donkeyschlong at 10:31 AM on December 4, 2001

True, these movies were in production long before 9/11, but Hollywood isn't afraid to release them now, as they would have been in the days immediately following the attacks.
posted by StOne at 7:45 AM on December 6, 2001