Moulton Avery – Google

This was a superb movie about a mythical man with honor, and a real story about a country whose soldiers have honor, but whose government has none. Our government makes promises that it does not keep, and that is nothing short of shameful. Never try to tell me that it was "impossible" for us to get those interpreters out of Afghanistan. It was - and at some level, a decision was made not to do so. Collateral damage, I suppose.

Ever the sci fi optimist, I read the 5 star reviews and felt hopeful that the lesser reviews were somehow wrong. That proved to be a rather large miscalculation on my part. This is a very, very unsatisfying movie - long on dramatic gazes and heavy, sorrowful music, but very short on substance. The contrived, overblown, and preposterous dramatic sequence that occurs during the journey from one arctic base to another betrays a complete lack of understanding of both cold water immersion and arctic survival. It's almost bad enough to be comical. The most intriguing questions raised during the film are left completely unanswered in a rather casual but infuriating way, and the ending is the kind of deflated fizzle that you'd expect from writers who have no talent or imagination. All in all, a big disappointment. Two stars is the best I can muster, and that's being generous.

This is one of those tiresome movies that the Catholic Church absolutely loves - a complete fiction that is sure to wow the faithful. Blessed Be His Name - you can see the proof of demonic possession right in front of you! Now you have good reason to believe! The Lame Plot: A faithless priest gets with the program and accepts GOD -- because the Devil himself is revealed to him via exorcism. Faith triumphs over reason, and once again, the indispensable need for religion (and the clergy) is confirmed. This is the kind of lame, magical thinking that prompted the Pope to ramp up the Vatican's battalion of exorcists, courageous priests who learned some magical incantations and went forth to do battle with assorted demons who possess their unfortunate victims - demons who can only be removed through exorcism! It's long past time when these religious charlatans should be forbidden to ply their evil trade. And if not forbidden, then at least laughed off the stage.

Scott Ryan is so damn good in this role. I watched the entire 3 seasons over a one-week period and was quite disappointed when I got to the end and realized that I'd just watched the last episode. I wanted more. More! The other cast members were great as well, and they managed to get through the entire series without the perfunctory Hollywood car chase that's a lame, staple action filler popular with less talented directors.

I give this a solid Five Stars. There's been some criticism that the film did not include this or that regarding conflicts using child soldiers. What I can say is that it included more than enough to be compelling, to carry my interest throughout the entire film, and to capture the horror of such conflicts, regardless of the region or country in which they occur. It's a powerful film about an important subject and I highly recommend it.

Another loser film that I would never have seen were it not for the homebound coronavirus Netflix addiction. Some reasonably good action sequences couldn't begin to make up for the incredibly wooden acting, the crappy plot, lame direction, and slipshod editing. Bruce Willis, well, he had a supporting part, poorly played. He seemed tired and maybe a little depressed that he got suckered into this one. Or maybe he just needed the cash. The whole thing was a sad waste of time. I give it one star, and trust me, I'm being really generous.