War Zone

More on the experiences and decisions of the ordinary soldier, who is handicapped by illogical 'rules of engagement'. While there are some action scenes, they are not overdone and seem realistic. I recommend this movie.

I saw an English dubbed version on US TV. One good thing is the voice actors spoke in American English. Not British English or foreign English. Very clear and easy to understand. This is a good aspect of this movie, but sadly this is where the good aspects end.

The audio dubbing has no production quality. When voices are heard, many sound effects and background sounds go away until the speaking ends. The voice actors always sound as if they are 5 inches away. Not more distant, not stressed, not always matching the physical location of the actors.

But the audio is the least of the problems. The actors do not have military bearing. They are actors playing. They have no sense of place or mission, and they act more like social workers on a quest of introspection. The default is troubled introspection and no soldier thinks by training or does simple instant rationalization and goes on to the next task.

On a mission we see three members of the front line unit. One is wearing a military cap. One is wearing a helmet. One has no cover. This was a distraction.

With each mission and activity, there is confusion and introspection, and no one can provide a protocol. This movie yells out "actors dressed as soldiers" rather than being a movie providing a window in on trained soldiers on the front lines.

Every weakness is a distraction that makes A GOOD KILL difficult to watch and enjoy.

A surprise too that this film has not been commented yet. That's one more movie about War in Afghanistan, but from the Dutch military contingent point of view. It seems there has already been another one, a few years ago; I saw it and can't remember the title. I prefer this point of view rather the American, Hollywood one, with too many combat or CGI effects. here everything is more human, sober, minimalist. A psychological study rather brilliantly done and, I repeat, in a total different way from the US movie industry. Excellent last image, just before ending credits.