The Finest Hour

It may not be a classic but it is certainly not crap as it is made out to be by IMDB rating. It is a pretty good, in a word, decent movie, with the US Navy Seals training, two rival-turned friends during training days, a love triangle involving them and their assignments during Iraq invasion of Kuwait. I found it a well-rounded enjoyable movie, with the opening soundtrack providing the ideal start to this kind of a story. Nothing got overboard, and the love triangle reminded me shades of Pearl Harbour. No qualms rating it 7/10 as against an unjustifiably low rating of 4.6 by IMDB.

A blend of action/adventure with romantic drama is attempted in this work completed soon after the "Desert Storm" imbroglio in the Middle East, showcasing Rob Lowe and Gale Hansen as U. S. Navy Seals sharing a desire for underwater military operations as well as for a comely marine biologist played by Tracy Griffith. As the film opens, Lawrence Hammer (Lowe) and Dean Meszoly (Hansen) become best friends while training in California to be Seals, where they meet and compete for favours from Barbara (Griffith); after the course is successfully completed, a Las Vegas sojourn for R & R is discontinued by sudden nuptials for Hammer and Barbara, an event that Dean regards with despair, and so the companionship of the young commandos is no more. The impending U.S./Iraq conflict, as orchestrated via "Desert Shield", forms the background for the picture's largest segment, as the two Naval officers, now become mini-sub specialists upon opposite American coasts, are reunited as members of a task force to be deployed near an island in the Strait of Hormuz where an Iraqi naval site is reportedly being developed in order to utilize biological warfare. During what is nearly a suicide mission, Hammer receives severe wounds, and Meszoly requests that Barbara come to Dubai to visit her husband in hospital, hopefully expediting recuperation, but Hammer soon joins his fellow Seals in a last chance foray to destroy the biochemical weapons, no matter what risks the team must take. The disparate components - personal relationships and combat daring - do not mesh here, primarily from a lack of directoral clarity, in addition to blocking gaffes, as improbabilities quickly become cliche, although there are some suspenseful moments. The production was shot at and about San Diego and its environs, with acting honours going to Hansen who creates a layered role; actual doctored film segments made during Desert Storm seem positively instructional in comparison with this feature, that additionally casts mainly Israeli players in Arab parts.

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 best part of this film was the two minutes of documentary footage from the First Gulf War. Everything else was ridiculously stupid and unbelievable. Now I was a soldier, not even special ops, yet the training and combat scenes made me cringe. However, I do highly recommend it for Mystery Science Theater 3000 treatment!

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.