Stephen Thurston

I was surprised by the quality of the film. It captures the brutality and callousness of industrial warfare thoroughly--but that is both a strength and weakness. I believe the Director did so to convey to the audience how grim warfare is and how little it accomplishes other than destruction and so stressed combat scenes. That decision makes this film a timely addition considering the devolving relationships between the great powers of our own day. The effect is that a peacetime audience has a lot of gruesome brutality to consider. However, the downside is that it loses the reality that most combat soldiers attest to in written accounts, 90% boredom and anticipation and 10% sheer horror--this film was 90% horror and 10% downtime. Again, I believe it was to emphasize the brutality to an audience that doesn't know war so it is understandable but a star must be withheld because it does stray away from the story told in the novel.