Review of Rescue Dawn (2007) by Sean L — 13 Jul 2014

Christian Bale makes friends and enemies alike in a sparsely-populated den of POWs at the onset of the Vietnam war. Undergoing another major transformation for the role, Bale lost a ton of weight to sell his emaciation, but as he's decked out in a big, baggy flight suit for the duration it's often difficult to see his worsening condition.

There's a strange mood that lingers around the fringes of this one, something to take us out of the moment. Maybe it's Bale's weirdly sunny disposition: even when he's being drug at gunpoint through the streets of a rough jungle village, he's smiling politely at the dumbstruck townsfolk.

It could be the simple, businesslike way the prisoners plot and execute their escape, which seems a bit too easy. Even the relationships between the captives, carried out via hushed tones and late-night chats amidst shackles, have a floaty, dreamlike quality about them that doesn't fit the seemingly-horrible situation.

As a picture it lacks conviction, that one moment for the audience to stand up and cheer, or even feel a sense of genuine tension about the cast's impending doom. I often felt removed from the action, as if I were reflecting upon it after the fact and glossing over the more grisly everyday challenges.

It's nicely shot, with a genuine appreciation for the area's unique terrain and the helpless fury of its residents at a looming US intervention, but the story itself never moved me like I felt it should.