Previous commenter Wayne missed the point... "Red Dawn" does not glorify violence and war. Far from it... the movie tries to show just how gruesome and de-humanizing an extended conflict like this can be. The occupying Soviet and Cuban/Nicaraguan soldiers are not portrayed as monsters. In fact, there are many moments when they are shown for exactly what they are... often young and frequently scared soldiers, doing the job they have been told to do. There are certain individual characters that are shown as ruthless killers, but they are generally the exception. The movie is less an action film, and more a cautionary tale of taking things too far and going over a precipice from which it is not easy to return. Neitzsche said "Those that do battle with monsters should take care, lest monsters they become." The Wolverines start out as a band of scared kids running for their lives, and grow into guerilla fighters forced to fight for their freedom. Eventually, they take it too far, and start to lose their emotional connection to what they are doing. It's hard to say more without giving away some key points of the ending sequences, but suffice to say that the kids come perilously close to fulfilling Neitzsche's warning. Those that take this movie simply at face value will lose a lot of the potential impact, and will likely miss the messages contained therein.
Reviews
2 Reviews
The Privateers
(2000 TV Movie)
Full of promise but...
29 June 2004
"The Privateers" never made it past the filming of the pilot episode. It had promise, but the low budget of the producers really showed through in that pilot. There was no musical score other than the opening/closing theme, and no real sound effects. The interior sets were very basic, and had a somewhat last-minute look to them (sorry Joe). The outer space shots, all mid-grade CGI, weren't bad, and the concept of the pirate ship's "boarding beam" was kinda nifty, although the ship itself was clearly based on the design of a modern high-performance speedboat scaled up to look like a multi-deck ship.
As for the acting... well, Karl Urban did great, there is no denying that. One is left with the impression that Urban takes every acting gig quite seriously, and always gives the best performance he can. Walter Koenig, on the other hand, really showed his age in this. He wasn't bad, but neither was he particularly memorable. Frankly, he looked like he really didn't want to be there, and had perhaps been snookered by his agent.
If the show had been blessed with a bigger budget, it really could have become quite popular... although seeing how eager the powers that be are to cancel good sci-fi shows like "Firefly" and "Farscape", who knows how long this one would have lasted anyway.
As for the acting... well, Karl Urban did great, there is no denying that. One is left with the impression that Urban takes every acting gig quite seriously, and always gives the best performance he can. Walter Koenig, on the other hand, really showed his age in this. He wasn't bad, but neither was he particularly memorable. Frankly, he looked like he really didn't want to be there, and had perhaps been snookered by his agent.
If the show had been blessed with a bigger budget, it really could have become quite popular... although seeing how eager the powers that be are to cancel good sci-fi shows like "Firefly" and "Farscape", who knows how long this one would have lasted anyway.
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