The Veteran

Weak at best. Overacting on Michael Ironside's part (and i usually really like this actor! Flashbacks overused in modern cinema and that is a perfect example. Conspiracy theories, please! Of all the Vietnam flicks i've seen it's the first one that bored me! Pretty images, but nothing special or breathtaking. The ending (no spoiler) is a big letdown and far-fetched. Really it's the perfect example of what action films shouldn't be. All and all, nothing special, weak, boring, the epitome of what certain people view as what men are (or should be?) i dunno, i wouldn't rent it if i were you, unless you suffer from insomnia and are looking for something to put you to sleep.

The Vietnam War, for some reason, seems to be the favorite subject of veteran Canadian director Sidney J. Furie, who has made at least 5 movies covering various themes of the war over the years. He does deserve credit for making probably the very first serious Vietnam War film (The Boys in Company C) in 1978, and the first movie portraying the service of women in the war (Purple Hearts). Though this movie may not stack up with the operatic likes of "Platoon" and "The Deer Hunter", I actually found myself drawn into this one, right through the twist ending.

Now, I'm not a fan of the recent trend in M. Night Shyamalan-style twist endings in one big-budget Hollywood flick after another; if a storyline is compelling enough by itself, it shouldn't require a cop-out ending which makes everything before it null and void. However, with the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth accusations of Presidential candidate John Kerry in 2004, as well as the Presidential campaign of John McCain and the myriad accusations leveled against Obama and Bill Clinton for their past, I did think this ending was kind of interesting and topical. Like the ending of "The Boys in Company C," it encapsulates much of the mixed-up political feelings Americans have about that war and politics in general.

The acting here by Bobby Hosea and Michael Ironside is amazingly good. If you watch this without the expectations of a big-budget Hollywood epic, you are much more likely to enjoy it.

I have to say, I didn't expect much out of this, but I was pleasantly surprised. The story is really fascinating, and has some unexpected twists that make the characters a lot more complex than I expected. I didn't think Michael Ironside was overacting, so much as showing just how desperate, and lost he was. His performance made sense for the unhinged man he plays.

And, y'know, it's nice to know Ally Sheedy is still getting a paycheck, even if she isn't an 80's brat packer anymore.

Anyway...I'm not a huge war movie fan, but this one had a lot of interesting layers, and the contrast between the war scenes and the stifling hotel scenes worked really well.

Usually I am ready to champion a film that's been pretty much slagged off by everyone else. I mean, it only had 215 votes and, besides, it has Ally Sheedy in it. Surely it can't be that bad?! Sorry to say but it was indeed exceedingly low rent at best. I was pretty unconvinced from the word "go". The opening cab ride, where a short news flash on the car radio takes the entire journey, suddenly had me seeing the flashing red lights that portend a real stinker. Nothing about any of the characters had any sense of authenticity and you could not really care about any of them. The war scenes were hoke and the whole thing is a badly written, badly directed and badly acted mess. There are plenty of ways to spend an hour and a half. I wouldn't waste it watching this.

I thought that this was not a bad little movie. Actually, it tries to be "big" in scope, with its Vietnam flashbacks that clearly show a lot of time and money was spent in making them feel authentic. The battle scenes and the non-combat scenes in these flashbacks are well done. But to tell the truth, I actually found the present-day sequences in the hotel room with the two men a lot more compelling than those flashback sequences. The acting and drama in the hotel room sequences are very well done, and I was really wanting to find out what secrets were wanting to be revealed. The cast is first-rate, especially Michael Ironside. So give this movie a chance, and be patient whenever the movie flashes back to the Vietnam war - you'll be rewarded in the end.