This movie is not nearly as good as it should be. If the intent was to mirror William Craig's book of the same name, it doesn't. Zaitsev was a small part of the book. The book dealt with the entire battle, and the movie would have been better if it had been done like THE LONGEST DAY or A BRIDGE TOO FAR, with the real-life people portrayed. The movie was much closer to David Robbins' WAR OF THE RATS, which focuses on Zaitsev and his duel with the German sniper, as well as his relationship with Tanya and friendship with Danilov. Still, any movie that features a 1,000 yard head shot of a running, jumping man, as well as a shot of Rachel Weisz's very attractive butt, can't be all bad. Call it 5 out of 10.
Reviews
8 Reviews
Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles
(1999–2000)
Better than the movie, not as good as the book
6 July 2001
I first read the book STARSHIP TROOPERS when I was ten years old (now some 25+ years ago) and I have always loved that book. So much of modern SF has come from that novel, like the movie ALIENS, and novels such as ARMOR and THE FOREVER WAR. STARSHIP TROOPERS is more than just a great story, it's actually about the US island hopping campaign in the Pacific during WW2 (Heinlein was a Naval Academy graduate who served in troopships moving soldiers and Marines into battle), and it speaks eloquently about a society and its military, their roles and what is right and wrong with them. It also addresses such things as force structure, officer training, and the "tooth to tail" ratio. This book is even on the USMC reading list for NCOs, as much of the book deals with the interactions within a small, platoon-sized unit. Realizing this, it gives a different perspective on ROUGHNECKS than it does for someone who has never read the book and maybe only seen the movie. ROUGHNECKS does attempt to keep faith with the book, especially with the addition of the Skinnies, even in portraying them as they are in the book--allies, then enemies, then allies again. It also blends in the movie characters, like Zander Barcalow, with new characters like Brutto and Doc. It even leaves Dizzy as a girl (in the book, Dizzy is a guy, and he dies in the first chapter). Also, there is an attempt to add in what made the book so special to begin with--the battle armor. I saw about a dozen episodes in whole or in part, mostly on the local channel that showed it. I can only hope that SCI-FI channel will reshow them, or maybe another cable network, like TNN, could pick it up. New episodes would also be good. One person said that there was more character development in ROUGHNECKS than in five seasons of VOYAGER. That's true, especially as all the characters in ROUGHNECKS were allowed to evolve, whereas on VOYAGER only Seven or the Doctor were really allowed to expand and grow. And for all those out there who have never read the book, or any of Heinlein's work, I would highly recommend it. You'll gain a new insight into this show, the movie, and maybe even more.
Dragnet
(1987)
Impressive, Bordering on Spectacular
6 July 2001
I noticed that many of the comments on this film were negative. Those people need to loosen up and get "just the facts." Maybe I see more of the humor because I am a law enforcement officer, but this film is a scream. It takes everything that the original series did, and does it with tongue firmly planted in cheek. Dan Ackroyd's deadpan Jack Webb impersonation is a riot, as are the remarks he makes to Hanks' Pep Streebeck. A typical example would be after Joe ignores Sylvia Wiss' advances, and Pep calls him on it. Joe looks him dead in the eye and says, "Streebeck, there are two things that separate us from the animals. One, we use cutlery. Two, we can control our sexual urges. I don't know about you, but don't drag ME into your private HELL!" That line is so Jack Webb-DRAGNET that I'm surprised it never showed up in the 1960's version. Like the Austin Powers films, DRAGNET spoofs a cultural icon in such a way as to evoke the original. Ignore the silly plot, and just enjoy the ride.**PS**I have actually used the line I quoted above in the line of duty!
Aliens
(1986)
The best of the ALIEN films
6 July 2001
This is the best of the four ALIEN movies. What most people don't seem to realize is that it borrows liberally from Robert Heinlein's classic SF novel STARSHIP TROOPERS (the book, not the much later film, but that's another story). The idea of the "bug hunt," the tunnels of eggs, the very inhumanity of the alien foe. Actually, a lot of movies and books borrowed from that novel. If only James Cameron had blown off TITANIC and done STARSHIP TROOPERS (and if they'd managed to create believable battle armor), and let Paul Verhoeven make a movie about some boat and a chunk of ice, I'd have been a lot happier. But I digress. ALIENS features Sigourney Weaver at her asskicking best, especially when she wields that rifle on the planet, and when she uses the loading suit to fight the Alien on the ship. As for Paul Reiser, I only wish he showed a tenth of the cojones during that miserable angstfest known as MAD ABOUT YOU. The whole cast was perfect, and whoever said that Hicks was Bill Paxton's best role is correct. The SFX were and still are top notch, and I only wish that I had a DVD player so that I could see it digitally. In my opinion, you can skip the other three ALIEN movies (especially ALIEN RESURRECTION, of which I watched about five minutes and turned it off), and just watch ALIENS, over and over again. One other little tidbit...When he was working on creating STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, Gene Roddenberry watched a number of SF films, including ALIENS. He was impressed by the tough Vasquez so much, that he created the role of the ENTERPRISE'S Security Chief as a woman--LT Macha Hernandez. Marina Sirtis originally read for this role, and Denise Crosby originally read for Counselor Deanna Troi. However, Crosby was much more believable as the security officer, so the character was renamed Tasha Yar to capitalize on her blonde hair. Sirtis was, of course, given the role of Counselor Troi.
The Final Option
(1982)
All Right Boys, On Me!
6 July 2001
Warning: Spoilers
THE FINAL OPTION, like RED DAWN and THE SOLDIER, was a product of that long-ago era called The Cold War. A lot of people today seem to forget that there really were groups like the movie's The People's Lobby, and the Nuclear Disarmament movement was going hot and heavy. And it's true that the Soviet Union, through the KGB and the other East Bloc intelligence agencies, funded these groups, and terrorist outfits like the Baader-Meinhof and the Red Brigades. So there's a background to this story. And, really, it's not too bad. The acting is pretty decent, especially Edward Woodward (who would go on to do BREAKER MORANT and TV's THE EQUALIZER). However, I think that they could have infiltrated Skellen into the bad guys without beating the snot out of those two unsuspecting exchange officers (especially the rather wimpy looking US "Ranger" Captain). But what really makes the film is the climactic assault on and clearing of the US Ambassador's residence. Of course, this is based upon the assault on the Iranian Embassy in 1980. Still, it looks great, and also seems very realistic. For example, no SAS troopers are killed by the terrorists, but one is injured going through a flaming window. And, unlike your average American hero, or member of THE A-TEAM, you see Skellen reload his empty MAC-10. As for any nay-sayers who wonder why the SAS guys don't get shot, it's a fact that when an entry team does its job right, and the opposition is basically untrained, the advantage always goes to the side with the training and the surprise. I'd like to see a new SAS movie, if it's made by the same team. These British film makers do a better job than our own American ones, because they go for realistic, plausible action and plots, rather than the overblown, hyper, unrealistic stories that Hollywood loves to make. Mind you, I love movies like DIE HARD, LETHAL WEAPON, and such, but it's refreshing to see something that looks like a training film done right.
Red Dawn
(1984)
Underrated and very relevant
26 June 2001
In 1984, I was 19 years old, and attending military college. A week after I started, the Soviets shot down KAL007. A couple of years later, we bombed Libya. Iran-Contra, Nicaragua, and Lebanon were common news items. Every day, the Cold War was the major part of the news, and I was studying and training to take my place as an officer of the US military. I eventually decided not to take my commission, and instead entered law enforcement. But the fact is, I lived that period of time, and RED DAWN seemed to be plausible, if a bit inaccurate. I really love this movie, because if it ever came down to going man-to-man with the invaders, it really would be mostly the civilian population fighting as resistance forces, because the business of training combat troops is long, and if you're constantly suffering casualties, it's bloody too. And yes, high school kids could become effective guerrillas after a while. Like anything else, practice makes perfect. Yes, it's got cheesy dialogue, and Patrick Swayze is doing a Charlton Heston impersonation, but it is accurate in its portrayal of everyday people doing what has to be done to have freedom. Do you think that the French Resistance in WW2 was made up only of trained soldiers? Do you think the Viet Cong was mostly a full-time, professional army? More importantly, do you think that most of the soldiers during the Revolutionary War were full-time professionals? Throughout history, most armies were made up mostly of citizen-soldiers who served only in time of crisis. You'll see that in such movies as BRAVEHEART and THE PATRIOT. The idea that the Soviets and their allies could not pull this plan off is only partially true. If the US had allowed their forces to be run down, to the point that radars don't work and missiles can't be launched, this could have happened. Remember, most Americans believed in 1941 that no enemy could strike the naval base at Pearl Harbor without being spotted. I believe they made a couple of movies about that little incident, too. By the way, for those reviewers who remarked on the non-involvement of the British in RED DAWN, if you remember when Powers Booth is telling the kids about what happened at the beginning of the war, one of them asks him who is on our side. He says something along the lines of, "The British, but they won't last too much longer. And 600 million screaming Chinese!" The kid (Danny, I think) says, "I thought there were a billion Chinese?" The colonel says, "There were!" By the way, during that period of history, the Soviets had some 60 or 70 divisions deployed along the Chinese border, and had actually fought a small skirmish with the Chinese in 1969 in that region. So RED DAWN may seem dated today, but for 1984 it was pretty accurate in portraying what could have been. And, to be honest, the same concerns still exist today, although the threat now is not from the tanks of the Soviet Army, but from rogue states and terrorists. Ignore this movie's message at your own peril.
The Soldier
(1982)
What is it about Cold War-era Films?
26 June 2001
I saw THE SOLDIER in the theater, on HBO or Movie Channel (I can't remember which), and in college. Now, I was a freshman at a military college, and they showed this one weekend. Everybody cheered during the title sequence, when words like "DEMOCRACY" and pictures of B-52s were shown, and booed for "COMMUNIST" and pictures of Soviet leaders. Yes, it was the height of the Cold War, and we were training to fight the Soviet Menace, the Evil Empire, the Reds. And we all loved the opening scene in Philadelphia, when the limo, targeted by the terrorists, turns out to be bait to draw the bad guys into the open, so Ken Wahl and his team can hose them with their weapons. But, let's face it, the dialogue was bad, and Ken Wahl has two acting modes--steely resolve and steely anger. But it was a fun little movie in which the good guys will, the bad guys lose, and a Porche gets destroyed jumping the Berlin Wall! It's James Bond with naked breasts and more firepower. And, of course, the "Politically Correct" crowd hates it. But THE SOLDIER, like RED DAWN and THE FINAL OPTION, are definitely products of the Cold War. We, the US and NATO, are good. We stand for freedom, democracy, and peace. They, the Soviets and their minions, stood for oppression, conquest, and war. Of course, we are going to win in these films. Did they ever make a movie about WW2 in which the Nazis won? It seems that most people will try to quickly forget the past, even if that past is less that 20 years earlier. Just enjoy films like these for what they are, movies from an earlier era. Just remember, "SKY BLUE ICE DAWN!"
Babylon 5
(1993–1998)
One of the finest SF series ever
19 June 2001
"BABYLON 5" was truly one of the finest SF series ever. It was far more realistic in attitude than Star Trek:The Next Generation, in that the characters were flawed, real people (and this includes the aliens). Of all the Trek series, only Deep Space Nine came close. Plus, B5 told an on-going story, with terrific continuity from episode to episode. It's a shame that the creator's concept wasn't allowed to reach it's full realization. Again, DS9 was the only Trek series to have such a vision. If you've never watched B5, do so and be amazed.
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