| Overall Grade: |
A+ |
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| Story: |
A+ |
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| Acting: |
A+ |
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| Direction: |
A+ |
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| Visuals: |
A+ |
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Absolutely Brilliant
by Dingyi (movies profile)
Nov 2, 2007
304
of
329 people found this review helpful
Flags of our Fathers was a definite disappointment for me. I was going into the movie expecting something that would rival the genius nature of Saving Private Ryan in terms of its balance between story, acting, visuals, etc. And while the visuals in Flags was stunning, the story was an absolute disappointment. Instead of focusing on the hardships that American marines faced while fighting on the island, Flags spent far too much time focused on the war bond drive on the American homefront, with occasional combat scenes interspersed between these war bond scenes. Overall, the lack of continuity in that movie was far too detrimental and ultimately made it a disappointment and a waste of money.
Letters from Iwo Jima was the exact opposite of that.
Focusing on the hardships of the Japanese troops defending the island, Letters did everything that one would expect from an intelligent war movie. While there were still certain flashbacks to events on the Japanese homefront, these flashbacks were not distracting like the ones in Flags were.
In terms of the story, it was exactly as one would expect from a film that centered around a Japanese trooper's experience on Iwo Jima: a film that centered around the occurrances on the island and some occasional scenes where the characters pondered about life back home in Japan.
The acting was phenomenal. Above all else, Watanabe's acting as the General was spectacular as he inspired his men to fight with his compassion (he was very benevolent towards the typical lower-ranking soldier above all) despite the fact that death became increasingly certain for both him and his men; it was a definitely oscar-worthy performance. The whole cast seemed to come together on this one, as essentially each and every character portrayed a sense of fading hope. The acting contributed greatly to the dismal and depressing mood of the movie.
The visuals were just as good as, if not better than, the ones in Flags. Explosions lit up on Mount Surabachi with the same bright orange glow that was seen during the shelling of the island in Flags. Tracer rounds arched everywhere, occasionally causing a splattering of blood. Severed limbs lie in the volcanic ash. Without question, the visuals were taking full advantage of modern computer graphic capabilities.
It is clear that Clint Eastwood put great effort into these films, but the amount of effort he put into Letters seemed to be double of what he put into Flags. This time, he managed to successfully strike a balance between the action in the war and the emotion of the soldiers, two elements that were grossly disproportionate in Flags with an excessive amount of focus on individual lives. Unlike the advice that I gave for Flags, spend the $10 to go and see this film, which I'd deem to be the best film of the year. It's worth every penny. |
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