This movie was wonderful, frightening, emotionally provocative and politically charged … and I loved every minute of it*. It not only has the knockout lead talent of Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep, Jon Voight and Liev Schrieber, but includes an ensemble cast that will have you going “Hey it’s that guy” every ten minutes (at least when you’re not trying to figure out the next plot twist). The individual performances are the big highlight of the film. Washington delivers his usual brilliance in the unusual package of the paranoid-driven Captain Ben Marco, ex-Army Ranger who has one dream, one nightmare of what really happened. Schrieber delivers the performance of his life as lifeless political puppet Raymond Shaw. Jon Voight plays one of the straighter men of the movie, but there is a lot of internal work going on and I applaud him for making the character as complex as it was. … Continue reading →

  06-25-04: Finally saw the movie again, and I kind of enjoyed it more. Every time I see it, I will always mourn the absence of the gods (despite their constant mention), but I was able to kind of neglect it and focus on plot errors. Plot errors you say? How can their be plot errors? Well for starters, they showed a lot of sunset shots where soldiers “looked like” they were preparing for battle. But then again it might have been patrols during one of the many 12 day funeral games. The other big thing that just pissed me off was the honor contradiction. It’s ancient Greece which was an ancient warrior culture where honor is THE most important thing about war. However, Peterson’s apparent need to show off Eric Bana as much as possible created some deadly inconsistencies. First, Hector led that charge into the Temple of Apollo … Continue reading →