Tin Soldier

I watched this with a couple people but if alone wouldn't have bothered after 15 minutes. I guess I expected more with the sectors involved and director but wow this is not watchable. It's boring and everyone watching spent most of the time just playing around on their phones. Hollywood writers are nothing but disappointing most of the time these days and actors aren't even trying it seems. They just want a pay check. The plot was an ok premise but poor execution. The character development just didn't make sense and you didn't care about any of them. Hard choices easy life, easy choices hard life. It's not a hard choice not to watch this movie.

When I stumbled upon this I didn't even think it was real, but it is! A movie with Jamie Foxx AND Robert DeNiro and not one trailer? Why are they not promoting this? I soon found out...This is one of the silliest things I have ever seen.

There are three main problems. First is the story itself. The narrative choice they made to tell the story in voiceover, flashbacks and then back to present day in a way that makes the timeline really confusing. Did this happen ten years ago or five? When did the character make this decision? How long were they together vs apart? How long did they know where a certain character was? Made it really hard to be invested in the character relationships that we are presented with. Also the cult titles/honorifics- Shinja, Bokushi? Pure lol wtf.

Second is Jamie Foxx as the villain. He's got this crazy wig and beard, straight hamming it up. I just couldn't take him seriously in what's supposed to be a deathly serious role.

The third and biggest problem is Scott Eastwood as the protagonist. I don't know why they keep asking him to carry lead roles. He is textbook nepo baby. He's got the looks and the name but he lacks the presence/gravitas of a leading man. There's an ironic scene close to the end where the villain PERFECTLY describes who Eastwood is in real life: a guy who always comes up short because he just doesn't have the mettle.

What about DeNiro? Well, he's in this for like, five minutes tops. They could have got any old character actor to do what he did, which wasn't much.

One star for Jamie Foxx looking crazy which is the only entertainment value. Real waste of time and talent.

I don't know where to begin or what yo say.

If feels like massive chunks of the narrative are missing. Things just happen for the sake of happening and everything and everyone is vague as hell.

Nothing really feels natural. It's all just a big hot mess of hallucinatory imagery and confusingly shot action scenes.

I don't know how or why this exists but it's certainly an oddity.

Check it out for the curiosity value. That's about all there is.

The cast is wasted here and I'm not really sure what the intent behind the pic or it's story is.

Not a new kind of action film. Just a huge head scratcher.

Movie was and is a mess. I and others will better enjoy observing ants in their natural or artificial habit.

Movie needs help, what a mess. Budget probably went to Jamie Foxx's interview scene, 10min worth of work for 1mill.

How are these projects green lit. Lots of CGI, unfortunately not as much in script.

Movie feels like a chose your own adventure of slop.

Flashback scenes give the viewer the urge to flash themselves for greater entertainment, regardless of pro/con of self-flash.

Please use your time by donating energy to help the world and not on this mess of a movie. Pete Sampras would do better as a writer and/or director.

This latest entry in the "geezer teaser" cinematic universe is surprisingly competent-and still totally skippable. Foxx and De Niro actually show up more than just for the poster (a rarity!), but most of the heavy lifting is done by Scott Eastwood, who's... fine. He doesn't embarrass himself, which already makes him an MVP in this genre even if he lacks gravitas.

Instead of going full action schlock, Tin Soldier tries to get deep and psychological, which is bold for a movie with such poor editing. Because the emphasis is on the story and on the human angle rather than on schlocky action, my standards for the writing and acting were lifted. Unfortunately, it's here that the film really fails to deliver. The body count is low, the trauma is high, and Jamie Foxx plays a cult leader so unconvincing you'd wonder how he even got people to follow him on TikTok, let alone into armed rebellion. Foxx is loud and aggressive, but he's not seductive or persuasive the way he would need to be as a cult leader.

There are some cool visuals-Eastwood's inner torment gets the psychedelic treatment-but the writing stumbles hard. The movie wants to be about healing and identity, but forgot to make any of that feel earned. Foxx yells vague anti-government stuff, Eastwood broods, and at no point do you believe these two were ever in the same cult.

The film could have worked if we saw Eastwood grappling with his allegiance to the cult, and if a proper parallel had been made between letting go of the rage and anger resulting from his trauma and symbolically represented by Foxx and the cult. Instead, Eastwood is in opposition to the cult from the film's start, and we never really see him being swayed by anything Foxx says or conflicted about what to do. The ending feels completely unearned.

Shoutout to the final showdown, where the movie ditches reality altogether and swan-dives into Mad Max cosplay. Foxx rallies his cloak-wearing cult at a dam that looks like a Bond villain's Airbnb, and suddenly we're in Thunderdome territory! Eastwood and Foxx brawl in a literal arena, surrounded by fireballs and chanting dudes like it's post-apocalyptic Fight Club. Oh, and Eastwood planted a bomb with a big ol' timer. I probably would have enjoyed the whole film more if it had maintained this level of insanity throughout. Sigh!

In the end, it's too serious to be fun, and too sloppy to be serious. If you're looking for meaningful drama or mindless action, you'll come away disappointed.