Garrison

Garrison is principally the story of two army officers, Sergeant Daniel McManus (Kerry Valderrama, also the film's writer and director) and Staff Sergeant Nathan Cross (James Barnes), two soldiers facing different but no less difficult issues in readjusting to life back home.

Sgt. McManus has faced trauma whilst stationed in the war zone, but is doing his best to move forward. However, his work in training the garrison's new recruits and existing soldiers is placing strain on his marriage to wife Andrea (Elizabeth Ingalls). Meanwhile, Ssg. Cross is showing erratic behaviour and having disturbing accusations made towards him about his rapidly disintegrating marriage. When Ssg. Cross goes AWOL from the garrison, Sgt. McManus faces a race against time to find the increasingly unstable officer before the Military Police do, as arrest would mean the end of Ssg. Cross' military career.

Garrison sets out with an intriguing premise, but ultimately fails to overcome it's underwritten script and very low budget. The film's presentation will undoubtedly put many viewers off, with it's drab locations, poor lighting and off-kilter camera-work dragging down many of the scenes. Although the script fails to create any real tension or drama, it does at least attempt to portray the damaged psyches of soldiers returning home from war without being too preachy or overbearing. The supporting characters are also fairly engaging, with Ssg. Xavier 'The Machine' Rivera (Jason Cox) being a standout. However, the characters are given very little to do throughout the movie, with only the dramatic final act letting them (and indeed the actors) spring into life.

However, Garrison is by no means a bad film. It has an earnest quality and it is apparent that the filmmakers and cast were trying hard to make a good movie, it's just that not everyone involved had the required skills to overcome it's low budget. In it's favour, Garrison is at least decently acted by a cast of virtual unknowns and the basic story line is a strong one. Unfortunately, although Valderrama is not without some talent, his writing and directing skills in Garrison are not quite strong enough to raise this movie from the annals of mediocrity.

An important topic film, but execution, style, music and a plethora of other tidbits make this whole project miss what is being sold here. The cast stated this movie has touched lives, and granted the Bragg killings are tragic - but this was not the film to be touting anything to do with those incidents. Some solid military performances and a conveyance of a believable "Garrison" lifestyle give this the stars I gave it - so maybe go into it to see this group's take on the daily lifestyle portrayed, with a violent domestic subplot appearing at the end and beginning. The special features give this an extra bump for the amount added onto this small budget film/DVD.

I've read prior comments concerning the character development, the musical score, and more good reasons to kill time with this movie.

I heartily disagree.

The music is good, but it's sometimes overwhelming and unnecessarily hard. The characters, apart from the investigating sergeant, are cardboard characters, deprived of intelligence. I found it really hard to care about any of them, and I was continuously hoping that they would all end up in freakish accidents. Even the newbies deserved to get it up the rear end. I especially consider here the staff sergeant who goes AWOL. This guy is giving orders, and he's a total basket case. If this is an accurate description of the American army, then by God, the world is in peril. The pace of the movie is slow, to say the least, the dialogues are simple (suitable for a redneck military audience), and did I mention that the characters are despicable?

I suffered through the movie, and wish all the people who think this is good and realistic all the best. I fear a society where this is your standard drama, and I advise military leaders to also select their officers based on a psychological profile, and not only on the badass crazy percentage.

So why can't they get the simplest things correct in this movie, for instance the unit insignias on the shoulders which no one is wearing, and no combat insignias either, cause everyone is wearing cib with wreath, so you know they have been in combat. And the fact in some scenes you see some of the actors not not wearing there covers or hats, probably for the fact so you can see there face better, wearing a mp3 during a company run, I mean please, such inaccuracies are just horrible and disrespectful, so it was a low budget film, but these are just simple things that so easy to get right but yet like so many other films they screw them up totally and portray the military as idiots.

Potential viewers who are considering watching this movie be aware - although the packaging suggests that this movie is full of action, it isn't. In fact, there really isn't much in the movie that could be considered action. Instead, it's a pretty serious drama concerning the going-ons at the title place. Nothing in theory wrong with that, but the execution is totally botched. The main problem with the movie is how unbelievably slow and boring it is. There's no feeling of building tension or any kind of spark that would keep a viewer interested. You'll be sorely tempted to hit the fast-forward button on your remote. To make matters worse, the movie looks extremely cheap and tacky, with horrible cinematography and next to non-existent production values. And who on earth though that strident musical score was appropriate for what aimed to be a serious drama? The filmmakers should be locked up in the brig.