The Finest Hour

I thought for sure this was a spoof of late 80s military movies. There fact that someone wrote this to be a serious drama really blew my mind. It reminded me of The Room with heavy weaponry.

I think the last Aussie reviewer hit the nail on the head. This movie despite being based on the experiences of an elite US naval frog team at war is surprisingly value-neutral when it comes to extolling the virtues of the US military, or even the reasons for going to war. This may have to do with the fact that the writer/director, Shimon Dotan, is an Israeli. In short, I enjoyed this movie, because it introduces some character development in a genre where it is often conspicuously absent. The casting of Rob Lowe as the career jackass was a stroke of genius! That said, there are aspects of honour and sacrifice inherent in his role, which he does bring out. However, like others I felt Gale Hansen stole the show with his role as the strong-willed and dependable leader contrasting with Lowe's as the antithesis. I like the fact that everything didn't work out at the end, and the monologue delivered at the end summed up the whole experience nicely. Go see it.

Gale Hansen features in this a lot in spite of being second billed on the credits. He is good with the role that is, unfortunately, limited in any interesting dialogue. In fact the whole film lacks creative flair, which is a pity because it is quite a good story line with some good actors. The overall production is clichéd and, at times, boring. Yet the two story lines, triangular love affair and strategic target of an Iraqi base with chemical weapons, had a lot of potential. The military one is handled better than the love affair which required a greater deftness of touch than the director or screen play allowed.

There are lots of close-up shots of Gale (and Rob Lowe) and he plays the more rounded and sympathetic character though the camaraderie between his character - Mazzoli - and Rob's - Hammer - is good.

My rating (6/10) is for Gale and the overall acting rather than the film itself.

The theme music at the beginning of the movie set the tone, it was awful. The moustaches reminded me of the Blue oyster bar scene from police academy, the plot was far more absurd than any Bond movie, and the acting and dialogue wanted to make me vomit. Apart from that it was great!

Rob Lowe and a bunch of great locations cannot fix this mess. Set in the 80s, with action in the first Gulf War, so the history is

Filmed like a third rate 90s TV show, every fault of the actors, script, FX, and more is brutally apparent. Also comically badly edited, with choices like a VO explaining a time jump that happens 2 minutes before it makes sense to have it.

For military buffs, the equipment in action sequences is 90s video game quality. A comically fake SDV. Paragliders. Scopes mounted to the slides of VP70s so they can snipe with them, and then smoke drifts up old west style. Rob Lowe is an excellent Sabrina. Oh, some enemy stuff is 60s Japanese monster movie quality. Oh, the big silver rocket!

Romantic sub-plot is way too dominant, which is awful as it's so ham-handedly played.

Do not be fooled. Much of the training is well done, but it falls apart outside of that.