Review of Buffalo Soldiers (2002) by Olaolu A — 14 Sep 2012

A underrated darker-than-night satire that generates equal parts humor and tension and benefits from a sharply-written script. Unfairly maligned during its initial release as "anti-American" due to its less-than-positive take on certain aspects of the U.S. military (the original release date for this film was just days before the 09/11 attacks; not surprisingly, it sat on the shelf for a couple of years before it finally saw the light of day in 2003), this film has thankfully found an audience but its still relatively obscure. I would stop short of calling Buffalo Soldiers brilliant but it's still very funny and, like any good dark comedy, it manages to successfully cull most of its humor from less-than-savory material (people often get killed as part of the punchline to several of the movie's gags); and towards the second half of the film when the proceedings start to morph into more of a thriller, it manages to be suspenseful without completely jettisoning the more comedic material. To put it another way, try and imagine what the results would be if M*A*S*H were re-written and directed by someone like Quentin Tarantino and that should give you a fair approximation of what to expect here. By the admission of Aussie writer-director Gregor Jordan, who adapts Robert O'Connor's novel here (which I haven't yet read as of this writing), Buffalo Soldiers was intended to be a "blackly-comic Cold War thriller" and that is exactly how it comes across. The tone is pretty cynical (a fact that is reinforced by the often dark and gritty cinematography) but there are still plenty of laughs to be had, provided your expectations are in the right place.

The acting performances are solid all around. Joaquin Phoenix, who was fresh off of an Oscar nomination (his first of two to date) for his villainous role in Gladiator back when this film was originally due for release, isn't quite the standout here that he was in the 2000 Best Picture winner (or more recently in Walk The Line for which he earned the second nomination), but he's still good enough to sell us on Ray Elwood, the somewhat duplicitous but still likable protagonist in this film. His running voice-over commentary, in particular, is laced with just the right amount of scathing commentary and self-deprecation. The more interesting performances belong to Ed Harris (who plays against type as a rather spineless commanding officer) and Scott Glenn (who plays to type as the hard-nosed new commander who comes in to clean things up around the base). Glenn, in particular, is almost frightening with the kind of intensity he radiates as Sergeant Lee. If you wanna cross this guy, you'd better do it right! On the other hand, Harris is far more laid back that were used to seeing from him but he manages to pull of his part as the milquetoast Colonel Berman quite well, which is a testament to his range as an actor. Solid support is provided by Elizabeth Govern as Berman's adulterous wife, the underrated Anna Paquin, who plays Elwood's love interest and Sergeant Lee's daughter, Gabriel Mann who plays Elwood's roommate, and finally Leon and Michael Pena, who play Elwood's partners in crime.

The film's taut pacing is also worth mentioning; at just over an hour and a half, Buffalo Soldiers doesn't come close to wearing out its welcome and it manages to sustain it's momentum for nearly all of the running time. This is not a perfect movie by any means (in particular, the movie does fall prey to some rather unfortunate and easy-to predict "twists" near the end) but overall, it's an above-average comedy-thriller that has the capacity to entertain anyone who's willing to take a chance. It definitely deserves far more attention than it has gotten over the years.