Thank You for Your Service

This film has a lot going for it. It has excellent editing; a top-notch job. It has three appealing young actors in the lead role. It is crisply directed and photographed. The storyline has bits and pieces of other great war classics such as The Best Years of Our Lives and Deer Hunter, as well as Coming Home. All these films have similar themes; the very difficult transition of young men coming home from a war. I identified with the main characters as a Vietnam veteran who returned from an unpopular war. There was no one at the airport to meet me and my buddy when we got into Fort Bragg. I was mustered out virtually by myself with $511 of mustering out pay. I immediately took the train to Newark, which arrived by 2am in the morning. While I napped on the train after two days of no sleep, I had my wallet lifted. I arrived home in Jersey City without a dime in my pocket. My girlfriend had left me for some other guy while I was overseas, and I wound up spending my first night of freedom after the army in a Catholic Charities center. The first thing I noticed after a week or so was that the excitement of living in Vietnam was completely missing in the US. And this, in my opinion, is pretty much what this film is about. It is like a gambler that is only alive when they are at the tables. It is, of course, a sickness that you must eventually overcome, but it is not easy. The film pulls no punches and delivers the emotional impact that it intends to send. The VA is correctly portrayed as almost totally inept. So, is the price of cheap oil worth the loss of limbs and lives of our young men and women? It would appear so. Very sad state of affairs. Good film.

This movie is a cold true reality for the family's that struggle with PTSD from combat. This is exactly how it is. This movie is the first in a long time that shows the truth. The opening scenes, are exactly what it is like. And this is a hard movie to watch for those who have served and the family's that struggle with the effects of war on there loved ones. For those who never served, You have no place to judge this movie so harsh.

His film is very well done, the performances are great, the direction is great, and overall it's an excellent look at the effects of PTSD and the life that these guys come home to after fighting a useless and futile war. I call it the Cheney after effect because these guys went into a war without having any idea what they were coming back to, and they came back to a VA that completely betrayed them, because the budget was never there to take care of these guys after they devoted their hearts and souls to fighting for their nation. It's a real indictment of the VA but it's absolutely true from everything I'm told.

This is a very powerful film that just tugs at your heart. Not what I would call entertainment, but a great movie. Cheney, Bush Jr., Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitz should have been tried at the Hague.

The acting, writing, directing and cinematography were all on point for this film but it fell short for me as its 1hr 49min length was way too long and made the film seem boring at times. Some scenes where pointlessly dragged out and should have been edited shorter. This film would of held my attention and still got the point across had it been cut down to 1:20. Not sure if the blame belongs to the director, editor or producers. Still a decent movie that sends a great message. 7/10 from me

This was a very difficult movie to watch. Rather than a war movie, it's an after-the-war movie with the returning soldiers all struggling to cope with different degrees of physical and mental disability. Betrayed by loved ones they left at home, struggling with brain injuries due to road-side bomb attacks, plagued with survivor guilt and all of them let down by the Army and Veterans Administration that's supposed to be helping them.

The movie it is most like is the outstanding "The Best Years of Our Lives" which was a multi-Oscar winner in its day, following how three war veterans try, with varying degrees of success, to reclaim their civilian lives. "Thank You for Your Service" is a much more brutal version of that story in terms of language and emotional angst of the survivors. Both are well worth watching.