Review of Casualties of War (1989) by Aaron V — 30 Mar 2009

Brian DePalma has made some pretty cool movies. This one had promising parts but wound up puling the wrong strings, there is a very good true story adapted from a novel but the film does not portray in my mind a good representation of what the vietnam war was.

DePalma has the chops to direct and epic film of the war time in vietnam but fails to develop this story in a proper manner. There is a very serious tone in this film but it does not get a real passing grade due to the script and acting chops.

Michael J Fox is better suited maybe in a film dealing with the different horrors of this time frame instead of the one dealing with actual events. Brian DePalma takes on a very ambitious story and one that deals with young americians being prosecuted for the horrific actions of rape and torture, but spends to much time in the jungle with the actors and not enough in the courtroom.

DePalma is a great director and is better suited maybe to have the freedom to direct a film that is fictional instead of taking it from a novel a which has been proven from many great directors that it is a very large feat that if not done right could be disastrous , this film was somewhere in the middle.

Sean Peen shows us he can play a great villain and also shows him developing his unique style, John c Riley was a very entertaining character and gives the film its needed humor in the first half before we are indulged in the very disturbing story line.

The film looks great and has DePalma style all over it with a little Kubrick thrown in to the script and more noticeably the camera movement he was inspired but falls short unfortunately with the emotionally heavy story.

Right Movie, Wrong Director.