The Last Bullet

I was fortunate enough to catch this film on the Sundance channel one day. It has got to be one of the most powerful WW11 movies that I have ever seen. I literally cried during the scene where he (the Japanese soldier) was flashing back to his life before the war. I just broke into tears when his daughter was stuck up in the tree, and he was below telling her to jump and trust that he would catch her. This is just wonderful filmmaking at its finest. I want to deeply express appreciation to director Michael Pattisen for such a fine exhibit.

After a knee injury sidelined me for several weeks, I discovered this fine film. Truly a great movie, Jason Donovan plays a very convincing new soldier to the jungles in the end of WWII. After the deaths of all of his comrades, he becomes embroiled in a fierce life or death struggle with the surviving member of a Japanese outpost. The final scenes bring humanity and seems to more personalize the war than most any other movie I've ever seen. This is a very fine film, don't miss it.

I only watched it because I happened to turn on the TV when it started, but I got caught right away! First, I love sniper-movies. Second, the tense feeling starts the first minute, showing the australian soldiers, young, inexperienced and nervous. The sniper-parts, when the eighteen year old boy duels with the old, cool and ruthless japanese are excellent. You can sense the feel of someone aiming at your neck without being seen, and the rain and mud creates very "nice" surroundings for this all-out war. The end is surprisinging and fills you with a sense of happiness and feeling of overcoming.

This movie is just excellent. It's a little war movie that no one has ever heard about and that's a real shame. At a quick glance it's not very interesting: an Australian made for TV movie starring Jason Donovan. And it's 90 minutes long (for me that's the definition of TV crap, those 90 minutes). But all is not what it seems. It's the story of an Australian and a Japanese soldier (both the last survivors of their units) that square of against each other in the jungles of Burma in the ending days of WWII. But it's not the action that's the allure of this movie. We get to know these guys with flashbacks to their lives before the war. What's their motivation, their background? They are not one dimensional and we get to know them and learn that neither of them is a bad guy (not even the Japanese who is always portrayed as bad guys in war movies). They are where they are for good reasons and during this movie it's impossible to take sides against either one. They are both good guys and you cry for them and what happens to them.

A great movie about what happens to men during war.

This film is a low budget TV production and that's how it should be taken. The main reason why it got my attention is the fact that the leading role is played by the Australian singer Jason Donovan. His performance is far from outstanding but it is still pretty acceptable. The action takes place during the last days of WWII in a jungle where Australian soldiers are looking for the last surviving Japanese warriors. It so happens that after an encounter between the enemies only one man both sides survives. The rest of the movie concentrates on the lonely battle of the two soldiers, looking to get rid of the other just to finally have a chance to return home to his family. One different aspect with the film is that there is really no good and bad guy. Both sides are equal, it is just the insanity of war that has put them against themselves. It is just unfortunate that the ending of the film goes a bit on the cheesy side (well frankly even much more than just a bit). So overall a quite ok film, why not watch it if you have a chance. 6/10