Post by slapshot63 on Jul 27, 2007 22:58:21 GMT -5
When something is empty, fill it. When something is full, empty it.
Rescue Dawn is a small little movie that probably crept up on people. It isn’t a huge summer movie and wasn’t marketed aggressively. I’ve seen a couple of TV spots every now and again, but not really much more. That doesn’t matter for me though; I was eagerly looking forward to this for two reasons. One, Christian Bale is in it and as many of you know, I’m a HUGE Bale fan. The second reason is that it just looked really good. So I waited until July 20th for this movie to finally come out. Well, it seems that for some weird reason, the studio decided to push it back a week to July 27th. So one more week I had to wait to see this. My anticipation level was very high and I had a level of expectation that was oddly high for this movie. So how did it turn out?
I’ll come right out and say that it is highly unlikely that I will see a better movie this year. Hands down, this is the best movie released in 2007. There may be other movies that win in the category of flat-out entertainment, but for sheer quality, this is unsurpassed. Everything about it is nearly flawless. I only have one teeny tiny complaint with it, but it’s really a personal one and not truly a fault of the movie. The big reason I went to see this, as I said above, was for Christian Bale. Not that he was ever expected to, but he didn’t disappoint here. Just like in every other movie I see him in, and I should be used to it by now, he completely blew me away. This guy is seriously the greatest actor I’ve ever seen. He starts out a little goofy (the person I saw it with asked me at the beginning whether he was “slow” or just being weird. I told her it was him being weird) but you slowly learn to care about him and you see Dieter decaying more and more each time you see him. He starts out looking normal but as the days and weeks go by (just like the prisoners, you lose track of time) you see him become more and more emaciated until he’s hardly recognizable (don’t worry, he never goes anywhere near Machinist levels, Jeremy Davies accomplishes that look, just not quite as extreme). It’s a startling change really. Everything Bale does though is just right. He eats bugs, gets shot at, gets tortured and many other things. Every single this is believable and just works because of him. The others in the movie are pretty well too. Dengler’s POW buddies are a little loopy (especially Jeremy Davies’ character) but everyone is solid in their roles. The biggest surprise is easily Steve Zahn. When I heard he was in this movie I groaned. Steve Zahn?! What the hell? He’s only been in stupid comedies where he plays the same damn character every time. His turn as Duane in this movie is nothing short of Oscar worthy. You feel for him and when he breaks down, you feel bad for the guy. He never comes across as annoying nor does he ever try and crack a lame joke. You really don’t expect him too even though you only know him from comedies. He’s just great here.
The film is light on digital effects, so there really isn’t much to comment about on them here. There are noticeable CGI missiles near the beginning that are, as I mentioned, obviously fake but they are only there for a maximum of two seconds so they aren’t a big deal. The action set pieces, what few there are, are exhilarating. When Dieter’s plan crashes you are on the edge of your seat. Now that I think about it, there aren’t really any action scenes. There are points in certain scenes when action takes place, but no big set piece (except the aforementioned plane crash). The bits of action sprinkled throughout are solid though and pack quite an emotional punch.
The score by Klaus Badelt is good. In fact, it is really good. It isn’t what you’d expect though. It’s mostly mellow and the orchestra is really made apparent, in the best way possible of course. The wonderful music only helps pack an emotional punch to certain scenes, and believe me, those punches hurt.
This movie takes you on an emotional rollercoaster and doesn’t let up until the final credits have rolled. My friend and I just sat there through the whole credits and didn’t say a word (I usually stay through the credits anyways because that’s how I am). We stayed until the blue ratings screen popped up at the end and simply continued to sit there in silence. We looked at each other slowly and whispered, “Whoa”. We didn’t know what to say. You go through every emotion here, but there is a payoff each time. You are nearly always on edge, and when something happens to these characters, which you have grown to care about, you are afraid for their lives. Near the end, things get more emotional, but never to annoying, distracting or sappy levels. You don’t even know what to feel anymore at the end. You are happy, sad, relieved, scared and exhausted. Everything is worth it though and this is a ride you simply must take. The rescue scene is so desperate and painful, so joyous and true, that it exhausts the senses. One other thing that is a feast for the senses is the beautiful cinematography. Laos/Vietnam is portrayed as beautifully dangerous. I can’t count the times I said to myself, “That’s beautiful” while watching the movie (my friend even said it to me once). The movie uses a traditional camera as well as the (sometimes) dreaded handheld camera. Don’t worry though, it wasn’t shaky at all. When it was used, it was used very well. It put you right in the action and elevated the sense of danger to another level that simply could not have been reached if it were filmed in any other way.
Rescue Dawn is a small little movie that will no doubt be overshadowed by the big summer movies out right now such as Transformers, Harry Potter and The Simpsons Movie. It’s sad that more people won’t see this because it is an amazing movie. I’m still reeling from this movie over two hours after it ended. I urge you all to go and see this movie if you haven’t already (and chances are, you haven’t) because you won’t see another movie like it all year. By the end of the movie, I had all I could do not to just jump up and cheer, and that has to account for something. Dengler's visceral journey through the jungle is made up of moments that represent cinema at its best—moments of pure sensation of the type that can't be expressed with the same degree of immediacy in any other art form. Dieter Dengler is someone to be looked up to. He overcame insurmountable odds and did whatever was necessary to ensure the safety of not only himself, but others as well. To Mr. Dengler, R.I.P. and I salute you.
5/5
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