TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

Cathardincu Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Paynbob It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Cody One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

frankie-07520 Another Brian De Palma movie, another bludgeoning. Or stabbing. Or body-drilling. Whatever -- as long as the victim's a woman. In "Casualties of War," the savaged female this time is a Vietnamese village girl dragged along for "portable R&R" by American GIs, then raped repeatedly, stabbed and shot.

Michael_Elliott Casualties of War (1989) ** 1/2 (out of 4)During the Vietnam War a solder, Eriksson (Michael J. Fox), goes out with a crew of four led by a rather psychotic Sgt. Meserve (Sean Penn). After the five are rejected on a leave Meserve kidnaps a Vietnemese woman who they plan on raping. Eriksson is against their action and soon finds himself at the four's wrath but things get even more heated once he plans to help press charges against them.Brian De Palma's CASUALTIES OF WAR was just one of many Vietnam movies from about an eleven year period where all sorts of them were coming out. COMING HOME and THE DEER HUNTER kicked things off and then you got stuff like APOLALYPSE NOW, PLATOON and Kubrick's FULL METAL JACKET. De Palma has stated that he believes his film is among the best made but I'd argue that it's the least entertaining.There are all sorts of issues that I have with this film but the biggest is that De Palma just isn't working too well in the drama department. One of my issues with the film was the music score that is just over-bearing at times as it's often very loud as if they're trying to put certain emotions into the viewer. The track is just too intrusive and I'd argue that it does more damage than good as it pretty much beats the viewer over the head trying to get them to "feel" a certain way.Another problem I had with the picture was the performance by Fox. He gives a good performance but at the same time I just didn't believe him in the role and I didn't think he was strong enough to carry the picture. It's been said that him being cast is the only thing that got the movie made, which I believe but I just don't think he helped the movie. Penn is also quite good here, although I do think his character gets a bit too cartoonish at times. The supporting cast includes fine performances by Don Harvey, John Leguizamo, John C. Reilly, Ving Rhames and Dale Dye.De Palma certainly knows how to film a movie so the cinematography is top-notch and I'd argue that the rape sequence as well as the trial sequences in the Extended Version are well-done and tense. With that said, a lot of the movie just comes across as flat and that includes the battle sequences, which just aren't all that memorable. CASUALTIES OF WAR was made to show what horrors were in Vietnam but on the whole it isn't nearly as good as it thinks it is.

poe426 Just yesterday morning, AMC (that's American Movie Classics) ran an infomercial offering "more sex, less stress." That was followed by two Three Stooges shorts, then a heavily redacted version of CASUALTIES OF WAR. I'd seen the movie way back when, but I'd dismissed it as just another of Brian DePalmer's overblown would-be epics (like the vastly overrated SCARFACE, which features Al Pacino's worst-ever over-the-top performance). Because I'm not a video gamer, I have no idea if the first-person shooter games, set in a variety of war zones, feature any of the more True-to-Life perks that actual War provides- perks like Rape and Indiscriminate Murder. Certainly any video game set during The Vietnam War would have to feature such bonuses. As Nick Turse points out in his exhaustive study of The American War, KILL ANYTHING THAT MOVES, "atrocities were committed by members of EVERY infantry, cavalry and airborne division... That is, every major army unit in Vietnam." "Soldiers realized that small groups of civilians could be killed with impunity and logged as enemy war dead..." One medical officer listed a civilian's cause of death as "running from U.$. forces." And it was none other than Douglas MacArthur who set the tone for the war by telling General William Westmoreland: "You might have to employ a scorched earth policy in Vietnam." The U.$. released 30 BILLION pounds of munitions in Vietnam (and by the early 70s, there were 20 million bomb craters) and 70 Million liters of herbal agents- most notably Agent orange (which Turse refers to rightly as "ECOCIDE"). This was the equivalent of 640 Hiroshima bombs... "Detained civilians and captured guerrillas were often used as human mine detectors and regularly died in the process." The Biggest crime of all, called Operation Speedy Express, was, according to concerned soldier George Lewis, "... a My Lai each month for over a year." The International Commission of Enquiry Into U.$. Crimes in Indochina concluded: "... The main burden of responsibility must lie with those who have been making this policy." Said Kissinger: "Once we've broken the war in Vietnam, no one will give a damn about war crimes." As Huynh Thi Nay (whose son was murdered) said when she spoke about it: "It became dark as night." Maybe gamers could get extra points for Civilian deaths- or bonus points for Rape (unless they get caught, which might entail a loss of turn or something)...

Avid Climber Casualties of War shows that war can be ugly for more than the obvious reasons. A great dramatic piece by Brian De Palma.The good. Excellent score. Once past the intro, powerful mood. Riveting story. Well built scenario, very logical and nicely paced. Emotionally disturbing.The actors. Michael J. Fox and Sean Penn are just perfect as antagonist. Don Harvey fits his crazy role very well. John C. Reilly plays the simpleton with convincing clarity. And I'll just mention in passing a good performance by Ving Rhames.The bad. The initial jungle scenes lack realism, as well as some over-acting by the black guy in the first part.The ugly. Nothing.The result. An emotional and brutal movie. Not for the faint of heart.