Reviews

This movie is bad, but I do not regret watching it because it is not tiresome at any point. It starts off great, with interesting plot development and good action scenes. The creators had an interesting idea of how to "put a new spin" on the story of Robin Hood.

As the story progresses some plot points are introduced trough a back door, which turn out to be relevant towards the end of the movie. In my opinion the entire story changes its flavor in this way. Robin is forced into a role of deliverer of the entire nation, something like William Wallace in the movie "Braveheart". But this only seems slightly out of place and the movie does well until the last half an hour.

The way in which the movie culminates is terrible in my opinion. The movie is transformed into a sort of an unintentional comedy. The makers of the film, completely awkwardly and obviously mix motives from different films. The way in which this was done can only be regarded as a comedy relief! Everything culminates in a final showdown and a big battle, because nothing less could sell probably. Needles to say that Robin plays the central role and everybody else bows to his might. Only so that the storyline twists once again at the very end, bringing us to "how Robin Hood came to be".

To sum up: movie starts very good as an action pass-time but as it progresses, the story is totally forced and even comical. As if the creators had an idea of how to start the movie, but not how to finish it.

I liked this movie very much because, apart from being a good thriller, I believe it is a quite good psychological comment of how people function under extreme circumstances such as war.

Basically the movie introduces few different types of character and then inspects them. Firstly SSgt. James who as he says "loves only one thing..". He is a person who loves war because it gets his adrenalin pumping. Anybody who ever loved doing anything can easily understand what keeps him going, except in his case it is something, hm..., not so nice and widely excepted. This results in creating extremely dangerous situations for all the people (soldiers) that surround him. He is aware of that, and is torn by that fact but he really cannot help himself, he has no choice because he is the way he is. He seeks danger on one end, and when he finds it, he appears to be the best person to be around. A nice touch in the movie was the way in which he tries to rationally "validate" his actions by taking a righteous stand regarding the death of an innocent (not to go into the details)...

Other soldiers are a wide specter of human beings with feelings of regret, fear, compassion etc.. The people who are very much affected by the war and are changed by it. Two supporting roles of Sgt. Sanborn and Spc. Eldridge are well placed in contrast to SSgt. James for being "human". Acting is great, and all the important characters convey their state of mind very well. David Morse was in the movie for just a few seconds and played his role of a "hillbilly cowboy" marvelously as Col. Reed.

A really good movie...

I must admit that I expected this movie with impatience but it turned out to be somewhat of a disappointment. Maybe I expected too much and it is all my fault.

I expected that the main feature of the movie - the fact that Benjamin ages backward - will be used to convey a strong message about common life. It appears that the message is that "it is never too late..". But when you think about it, the aging backward of the main character is not necessary to make that point. In fact the thing I disliked most is that this idea remains on the level of curiosity the entire movie.

Also the fact that it last so long is a minus for me because the extra time is not necessary to make any point, it just lasts longer. This comment also applies to "Zodiac" from the same director. It appears that this is his MO.

The thing I liked about the movie is the scenery, the atmosphere and also the acting which is superb.