RyothChatty ridiculous rating

Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Spidersecu Don't Believe the Hype

Matylda Swan It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

howardeisman The buffalo soldiers of history were primarily African -Americans who distinguished themselves and the American military. It is particularly inappropriate as the African-Americans in this movie, except for a walk-on or two, are presented as similar to those in The Birth of a Nation.Phoenix does both drama and comedy. Those actors who did this best, Cary Grant and George Clooney, for example, can flash a grin and have an attitude that says "have fun with me" to the audience. Phoenix, instead, shows an inane grin and floats clumsily through the movie, as if on some drug. There is an element of joy in his demeanor as he amazes himself (and us) by remembering a line.Surprisingly, this is a comedy genre: the service comedy: a picaresque hero stealing and conning his way to a comfortable berth. The hero is harried by a tough but dumb sergeant. Same here but things get particularly bloody with some sex thrown in by an unfaithful wife and ungrateful daughter There isn't a likable character in the whole film, while the plot has been done so often that there is no tension at all in it.It isn't funny at all.

Lil' Jul The story about soldiers in a midst of a peacetime really proves to be an excellent example of a darkly humorous crime story.The story is set in 1989 on the American Army base. It is a period of stagnation in army; there is no one to fight with, and soldiers try to spend their free time by all ways and means they prefer.The main character is an ingenious clerk Ray Elwood (Joaquin Phoenix; gorgeous, simply gorgeous) who tries to get profit from everything that is available in the base. His problems start when the new top sergeant Robert Lee (played extremely well by Scott Glenn) who appears to be a Vietnam veteran, prevents poor Ray from making an important deal and tries to make his life hell and even worse when he finds out about close relationship between Ray and sergeant's daughter.The screenplay is based on the novel written by Robert Connor. Undeniably, the modish anti-military skit, pure black army humor, breathtaking story about cynical (mis)adventures of dashing Yankees in the Western Germany, when the soldiers have their heads in the clouds of homemade heroine - all that makes the movie incredibly good. Equally good are professionally filmed close-ups and long shots.Another remarkable feature of the movie is the soundtrack. De la Soul performance suits incredibly well.In spite of the success of the movie in Europe, in the US the first showing was in the wrong time - in 8th of September, 2001. After the 11th of September it was furtively shown only in 24 cinemas, and was a box-office disaster.The most remarkable character in the movie is beyond doubts Ray Elwood. He is a very contradictory character; he is at the same time cynic and in despair, fable and strong, enjoying life and losing his face, tormented by discrepancies. The lead is portrayed awesomely by Joaquin Phoenix. Ed Harris, as usually, shows very enjoyable high-class performance. Also I like the performance by Gabriel Mann; it is a minor role, though quite noticeable. I do not like Anna Paquin in this role; she unnaturally has tried to be intense and alluring.On the whole, the movie, being at the same time funny, serious and sad, is perfect, and it is worth watching at least because of the outstanding performance of Joaquin Phoenix in one of his best roles.

Ryu_Darkwood American directors tend to glorify their war movies by adding a lot of heroism and false American nationalism. Buffalo Soldiers is a nice change on these kind of movies. It tells the story of a group of American soldiers so thoroughly bored that they kill time by smuggling drugs, drinking booze and fighting each other. It kinda reminds me of my father's stories of his short yet turbulent time in the army. He keeps on telling about all the wrong things they did to have a bit of fun in their forced presence in these days. The movie doesn't really have a grand message to deliver to its audience, but it is most definitely good for a few laughs. And Joaquin Phoenix shows a bit of the strong charisma he has in store for us in later movies ( Walk the line- the Johnny Cash biography- as his strongest one )

ExpendableMan Having been surrounded by a massive amount of media hyperbole since his A-list graduation performance in Walk The Line, now couldn't be a better time than to go back and re-evaluate some of Joaquin Phoenix's earlier work, especially Buffalo Soldiers, an edgy black comedy with a strong anti-authoritarian vein pulsing through it that has been more or less ignored. That could easily be put down to the fact it is a movie about American soldiers organising drug operations which was released two days prior to the September 11th atrocities but it would be a real shame if it were forever to be consigned to the drawer marked "forgotten." Coming across like a darker version of Sergeant Bilko, the film is set on an American military base in Germany just prior to the collapse of the Berlin wall and the end of the cold war. With no enemy to fight and little to do, Sergeant Elwood (Phoenix) the camp clerk and his motley crew (including a pre-Crash Michael Pena) pass their days running drugs on the black market and running circles around hapless camp commander Colonel Berman (Ed Harris). Everything seems safe and structured until the stoney-faced career soldier Sergeant Lee turns up and becomes determined to scupper all Elwood's plans...To label the resulting film as anti-American may be a tad harsh however. Elwood and his crew may be devious and self-centred but they are human nonetheless. The top brass come in for a kicking too; Harris's Colonel Berman being portrayed as so much of a career driven apple polisher he fails to notice the fact that his own clerk is in charge of a major drug operation and having an affair with his wife right under his nose but this certainly makes a change from the clean cut heroics or "We're just trying to do our job" determination of regular war films. Giving the characters so much depth also makes the drama more effective and while not everyone may disagree with Elwood's actions, it's hard not to feel for him when an underworld kingpin refuses to sympathise with the death of one of his men.Bleak as that scene may be it is all the more effective for what comes before it. The sight of a three man tank crew getting stoned then inadvertently causing havoc when they try to find the rest of their unit is a riot and Elwood's playful game of cat and mouse with Sgt. Lee provides many funny incidents, not least of which is a scene where Lee has an entire platoon unload machine gun clips into Elwood's prized Lamborghini.At the heart of it all is the main Phoenix himself. His acting abilities really shine and Buffalo Soldiers is a good indication of why he was handed the job of portraying Johnny Cash as he handles both the sombre and the humorous equally well. That he is backed up by a witty and edgy script helps things no end and in these days where the US is more keen than ever to have us believe their armed forces are comprised of square-jawed patriots, it is a tremendous relief to see someone give us a differing view; an army made up of individuals from every corner of life, each with their own attitudes to their profession, not all of which may be as tasteful as the top brass would like.