Review of Miracle at St. Anna (2008) by Aaron N — 26 Jun 2009

This is a case of a horrible script, played by horrible actors, and miscasting the director. Spike Lee has some serious talent, but this was so heartbreaking for me to watch. We don't care about any of the characters. He's not an action director and that's pretty clear. Spike has a style that coincides with his name. When you see a Spike Lee film, you can tell it's a Spike Lee film. There were maybe, MAYBE 3 shots total in this film that reminded me that it's a Spike Lee film. And that's a shame because I love his style. In your face and personal. This was just bizarro world. At the end of the movie, the point is that these guys who died were this man's only friends and that it was a real brotherhood, but where was that in the movie?!! All they did was fight. We hardly ever saw them get along, or even give information about their lives back at home. We go through the entire movie knowing nothing of these guys. It was annoying to see them fight, especially over that nice girl who ended up being a whore. What a disappointment, I'm glad she got shot right away after that.

I believe the idea of the buffalo soldiers struggling as black soldiers in a white man's army could have been really interesting and challenging for the audience, but this film was just bogged down. The script should have been overhauled.

Come on Spike, Don't let me down on your next film.