Review of Taking Chance (2009) by Geoff T — 24 May 2009

For me, this movie was a game changer. As an ex-Viet Nam war protester, I admit to being one of those who continues to harbor a level of undercover disdain for anyone choosing the military life. Its not that I thought they were bad people, just misguided, ill-informed and suffered from limited vision. At best, I was willing to honor the fact that they chose to stand up and risk the ultimate sacrifice for God and country, but questioned their reasoning given the Viet Nam debacle and the current Iraq War. OK, OK, this is about a movie, but I had to offer a glimpse of my political bent to make you understand how much this movie straightened me out.

Kevin Bacon is quietly masterful and 100% believable. He treats the role as a military escort officer with such honor and dignity that you can't help but take the journey with him. There is very little dialogue, but all of it so uplifting, compassionate and meaningful as to be enough. There is no action, no drama, no tension and no love story; unless you count an officer's allegiance to his comrades in arms. But if you find yourself bored while watching this movie, frankly you have no soul.

Bottom line, while I still see many of the actions taken by the American military machine short sighted at best and positively self destructive at worst, the men and women that step forward and answer the call deserve nothing but respect. And the journey taken in this movie helped being me here.