American Soldiers

Sidney J. Furie ("Superman IV", "Iron Eagle") hasn't made a good movie in his nearly five decades in the director's chair, and he wasn't about to start with "American Soldiers."

It's not that this film had zero potential. The short-lived TV series "Over There" proved that a dramatized look at the ongoing Iraq conflict could be entertaining and real without crossing an uncomfortable line with men and women still dying on the frontlines. But stunningly clichéd dialog dogs "American Soldiers" from the opening sequence. There's the prisoner meet who is only too happy to share his evil plans for the future with his American enemies, reminiscent of something out of an old superhero cartoon. There's the forced "why are we here?" discussion. And who could forget the soldiers who offer some timely advice before dying, a crucial component of unimaginative movies.

The acting is no better. I can usually handle a sub-par performance here and there, but these guys are so bad it detracts from whatever enjoyment may have been possible. Instead of being sucked into the story, you find yourself wondering if this was the best Central Casting could do. The actors aren't helped by the aforementioned dialog; in fact, you really get the sense that they know how terrible their lines are as they reluctantly recite them.

The Furie staple of senseless violence (remember "Iron Eagle"?) is omnipresent here as well. The pattern is detectable within 10 minutes: clichéd dialog, horrible acting, big, fiery explosions, repeat. Of course things blowing up is a part of war, but Furie uses it as a misguided means to liven things up rather than portray the brutality of conflict and its impact on GIs. There are moments where you'll swear this film's target audience is violence-obsessed adolescent boys (again, remember "Iron Eagle"?).

But enough about the negative. No one expects a direct-to-DVD film from Sid Furie to be a masterpiece. The truth is, "American Soldiers" does not deserve to be in the IMDb's bottom 100, where sits as of this writing. Trust me, there have been much, much worse. "American Soldiers" even has a few decent moments once you're willing to forgive its shortcomings. But depending on your viewing habits, that's a big if.

American Soldiers is totally inaccurate, and it is obvious that the producers and directors took total creative license, with little or no advice from any person who has served in Iraq, or the military.

The depiction of the downed helo was totally wrong.(when a helo or any other aircraft goes down, all other aircraft in the area is scrambled to protect any surviving crew) Also, the USA military has total air superiority in Iraq, yet no air support was shown.

This movie is preachy, and fake heroic, like a John Wayne WW2 movie. Also, it is totally idiotic to think that USA infantry soldiers would take over a CIA interrogation post(committing a act of treason), and free the insurgent prisoners there. NO soldiers in their right mind would do that.(although the movie is correct in saying that the whole weight of the CIA would come down on the soldiers, and also their families.) Overall, this movie is a complete fabrication, and a joke of a war movie.

After reading a few reviews, I'm glad I'm not the only one who felt that the hummers and trucks seemed indestructible, unless the plot needed them on foot.

Also, any notice that this was sort of like a bad G.I. Joe episode, where no one hits anything with any weapon (RPGs included), but the bad guys retreat after one scrapes a knee? I couldn't give this movie an out-and-out 1 out of 10, because I at least saw that they were trying to give political open-minded discussion about whether being there was right or wrong (the Iraq prisoner's point of view, the fact that some in the squad knew at least why the Iraqis MIGHT be upset at the US for being there, etc.), but personally, these were completely overshadowed by how saintlike each solider was made out to be. Bad soldiers? Yup, because just emptying clips is a better solution then aiming each shot - let your MG be your sniper! Also, never SEEN a worse knife fight in my life. Bad shots? Definitely - unless they are using their side arm or their own RPG. But I could get over all these things, but what I couldn't was the bloody "buck up, little solider" speeches every 20 minutes. I swear, if I heard another "you guys are the best soldiers I've ever been with" or "we're here for each other and nothing else matters" speech again from anyone in the squad, I probably would have thrown something at the TV.

Want to see an actual modern war movie? See Black Hawk Down.

worst acting I have ever seen. These soldiers are the worst shots in the world. The only thing worse is their acting. These soldiers see more action in one day than most see in a lifetime. Good idea for a movie but the over acting kills me. the only good acting was from the enemy.

The props were toys too. Don't waste you time I did for you. Started out OK, but died quickly. Must have been a very small budget. I hope they didn't pay anyone.

don't waste your time.

So many goofs, I wondered if it was a spoof.

...it's also noteworthy that it's not simply, as is usually the case, of Americans good, non-Americans bad. However, EVERYTHING else is weak.

Cliché's abound in this would-be attempt at a dose of reality: the black soldier named Jackson, the Hispanic soldier from Miami, the anonymous Southern-drawled soldier, and the sarge who everyone would give their life for, who everybody calls, well, Sarge. The bad doesn't stop at characters: some bad wound makeup, soldiers looking like they're holding a gun for the first time, and bad guys who NEVER take cover and can't hit ANYTHING with an RPG all compound the ridiculous notion that all of these poignant moments are "typical" in ONE DAY.

Every single story element has been executed hundreds of times before and BETTER. Crappy writing coupled with horrific acting really blend together to create plenty of "did they really just say that" moments.

Bottom line: if this is supposed to be army propaganda, it's too silly to capture any sense of pride of the army. And if it's supposed to be entertainment, it's laughable. 1 out of 10