Ambush: Battlefield Vietnam

When I sat down to watch "Ambush", I figured that chances were that it would prove a good movie since it had the likes of Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Aaron Eckhart on the cast list.

However, prior to sitting down and watching this movie from director Mark Burman, I hadn't even heard about it. So I wasn't sure what I was in for here, aside from it being a Vietnam War movie of sorts.

Writers Mark Burman, Johnny Lozano, Michael McClung and Dillon Slack put together a fair enough script for the storyline here. And while "Ambush" certainly was interesting enough, the movie was ultimately sort of nondistinctive, and it sort of feels like a movie that snuck in under the radar and will just as quietly fade into oblivion. The movie didn't leave a particularly lasting impression with me. While "Ambush" was watchable, it should be noted that there are far, far better Vietnam War-based movies out there.

The acting in the movie was good, but I feel a little bit cheated out of something, as neither Jonathan Rhys Meyers or Aaron Eckhart weren't playing all that big roles in the movie. Meyers did, however, have a bit more on-screen time than Eckhart, but they weren't leading performers. I guess they were top billed solely to lure in the audience.

"Ambush" was filmed in a good manner, because it felt like the audience were right there alongside the US soldiers as they ventured into unknown territory as they realized that the Viet Cong troops were using subterranean tunnels in their warfare. There was a particular sense of intense tension and claustrophobia throughout the course of the 104 minutes that the movie ran for, and that definitely helped carry the movie.

For a war movie then director Mark Burman delivered a watchable movie, albeit not a particularly outstanding movie. This is the type of movie that you watch once, then shelf it and forget about it.

My rating of "Ambush" lands on a five out of ten stars.

Had the convoluted, disjointed, unremarkable and tedious screenplay from the three writers been cut down to about 80 mins, this may have been more enjoyable. Certainly more enjoyable than having to listen to cliched tropes and long dragged out and repetitive scenes of dead end turns in an underground maze. I get that this was a low-mid budget B film, and although I have seen much worse, this film actually could've been more enjoyable with better directing and major script cuts and edits. The cinematography was decent, and surprisingly for a B film, the score was on point. Even much of the acting was better than I expected. Nice idea, but sadly, terrible execution.

This is the most amateurish piece of work I've ever seen. Wrong weapons, wrong uniforms, wrong rank insignias (dozens of them), wrong rations. There is no way, NO WAY, they had any US Army consultant, or even any input from an Army veteran.

In one scene, the nutritional value of MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) is discussed. The problem is that MREs were first distributed in 1981. The basic combat meals in Vietnam were the good old C Rations. C-Rats. C's. Etc.

As to uniforms . . . What a mess! This was FUBAR from the get-go. Stripes being worn like shoulder insignia. Officers with shiny rank, not subdued, and rank but no branch. Most actors have no idea how to properly wear a beret, but this cast takes it to a new level of hilarity. A French chef might be impressed, but certainly not a soldier. They just look simply ridiculous.

So, spare yourself the pain of watching bad acting and a pointless plot performed by people apparently dressed up for Trick-or Treat. Just double time right on past this one.

The show starts with a place and date, 1966. In the background, an F-111. That didn't even enter service until a year later and didn't come to Vietnam until 1968.

There then follows a sequence of macho macho man orders and posturing. So lame, it's beyond parody.

The Special Forces captain flies to a base to receive a special secret package. Why he can fly in and not fly back out again using the same helicopter (or even any helicopter) having collected the famous package is never explained.

Upon arrival there is more screaming authoritarianism - clearly the script writers haven't ever been on a military base. Laughably, the OC for this base is a corporal. Whose mean keep calling him "Sir". His demeanour is that of an earnest but ridiculous one pip wonder, but even so, the "Special Forces" captain does nothing but belittle him and scream at him. Whilst also addressing him as if he is in command of a 50 man detachment...

Next, a guy manning a machine gun and whizzing the iron sights around spots two US Special Forces snipers in full ghillie suits about 200M out from his position and challenges them.

They stand up and assert that they have "the package", a book marker "Secret" inside a plastic map case. When asked if the enemy (who knew that the Vietnamese marked secret documents in English?) knew that they had this document, the snipers earnestly responded that there were 8 of them, implying that 6 comrades had died (or been captured). Having not answered a straight question with a straight answer, the hitherto highly strung SF captain says he needs to arrange some "R&R" for the newly arrived hero's.

Whereupon someone (another trembling nerd engineer) accidentally discharges his weapon, causing the SF captain to drop the "Secret" documents in the mud so he can regain his title of the most screamy man in Vietnam. Another trembling nerd (for this is what combat engineers are according to this film, or perhaps are reduced to by the overwhelming machismo of the SF presence) picks it up and has a gun out in his face by one of the "sniper" team.

As the captain resumes screaming at the other corporal (one of whom discharged the gun and is made out to be far more junior in rank than the other who is again made out to be the detachment OC), I decide that the 20 minutes lost to date is more than enough.

Read this and save yourself the 18 minutes of ridiculous rubbish.

The film begins in the middle of the action and the events building up to it are narrated to the audience over the course of a single dialogue exchange between the general and the captain. 10-15min invested on that through visuals would have definitely helped.

Though the core plot of tunnel warfare is nothing new, the story nonetheless is not gripping. The screenplay is also equally lacking and at places especially toward the end, it falls apart failing to keep viewers on the edge. Even the editing at the end becomes wayward with unnecessary cuts that's immediately obvious. Acting is decent and its only the likes of Eckhart that impede this movie from becoming another forgettable B-Grade school project.