Matialth
Good concept, poorly executed.
LouHomey
From my favorite movies..
SpecialsTarget
Disturbing yet enthralling
robynsegg3
This movie has a lot of faults. The synopsis is a loss leader...the one thing this movie isn't is that. Didn't watch the movie till the very, very end? If you gave up on this movie early, you will have missed that the movie is supposed to be like being inside the head of someone with serious PTSD. There are some random things added that I think add nothing to the topic except to make it murkier...why would the wife immediately start cheating with the best friend? Were they just trying to heap angst on the protagonist, like -just- PTSD isn't enough? I have had friends with PTSD, that by itself is just fine at screwing them up! It just distracts from the message, makes this movie just confused and disappointing.
jstnratliff
The critics went entirely too hard on this movie. It was a good movie. Shia, Kate, Gary, Jai and Charlie all did fantastic. The cinematography was great. As a movie critic, do you get so bogged down with certain details that you forget the human aspect? Do you forget emotion? What are you focused on? The plot was good. The execution was great. Don't be so hard to please, that you forget how to enjoy yourself. Watch the movie, and think for yourselves. Don't listen to the critics.
Eric_Cubed
Man Down is the worst movie I've ever seen, however upon viewing The Mummy last evening, I can now say that Man Down is the 2nd worst movie I've ever seen. The abject offensiveness of this stinking beast is enough to make any plumber wretch with interminable abandon. The premise, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, is unforgivably bleached and appropriated in order to advertise a post apocalyptic theme in hopes of juxtaposing the former in favor of the latter. Elevating vagueness and confusion to previously unknown definitive heights, we feel as though parallel scenes of trauma and reality were poured into a lottery like device and then poured and pasted together without any semblance of coherence or continuity. Unbearably, we feel as though we are aging when we watch this film, as Kate and Shia and Gary insanely perform with near perfection within a structure possessed by incompetence and grounded down by ineptitude. Perhaps this is my basic gripe, that so much talent was so detestably wasted by the stupidity of the producers, writers and directors. Or perhaps I am insulted by the opportunity the film had to creatively symbolize the actual and real devastation of PTSD. Most pathetic of all, the manifold and multiform editing of Man Down, trying far too hard to encapsulate and replicate the phenomenology of the trauma of PTSD, feels completely cheap and derivative, trying to illuminate a condition the creators of the film clearly know absolutely nothing about, inauthentically trying to make us believe what is real and what is not is a clever plot device rather an an absolute failure in all things imaginable. This film made me feel actual guilt in spending money to view this piece of trash.
latinfineart
This could have been a good film. The message about PTSD was well intended. Granted, this was a difficult situation he was put into. But buck up man. Deal with it. Move on. It was one incident for God's sake. You did your best, now live with it. I think in the hands of a more skillful director it could have been a profound film. Instead it was a bit of a mess. Oldman was completely wasted, and poorly casted. LeBouf was good, and I am certainly no fan of his. Mara was good too, as was the kid. It just felt like so much of that was wasted. The ending was a twisted train wreck. I cannot recommend this film, regardless of how real the problem is, or how noble the message is.I do totally support the soldiers who put their butts on the line, with a series of useless wars this nation is fighting. And I think all of our commander in chiefs are responsible for really dropping the ball, when it comes to these soldiers, and the care and treatment they deserve when they return. That should be the real message here. Responsible on the part of Tiny George II, Blundering Barry, and now Cheeto. They are all abdicating their responsibility in a grotesque and shameful manner.
