paudman

This is a serious topic, a man who believed so strongly in his principles that he was prepared to go into battle unarmed to save life rather than take life, and through his selfless bravery won his country's highest honour. Why then did I laugh so much? Death, horror, blood, pain, screaming, men killed in their youth, the father still so horrified by his WW1 experiences that he can't see his son off to more in the next war. It's not funny. What on earth was Mel Gibson thinking? The movie is full of cliches, not to mention made up from characters of previous movies - we have the bully (Biff from Back to the Future) the cheesy "where are we all from" introductions (from Starship Troopers) and the nickname awards to each belittled soldier (Full Metal Jacket), the nude over-the-top muscleman with the little moustache (Scream)... the guy who gets the knife through his boot and still stands to attention in front of Sergeant Zim (Starship Troopers again, only there it was through a hand) ... laughable. The battle scenes... when the 'corpse' sat up and the soldier screamed (Living Dead) it was risible, but when the soldier picked up the half body and stormed forward, BAR in hand, mowing down the Japs... it was comic-book moviemaking and I gave up. A serious, moving topic given a slapstick treatment. I'll award it five due to the subject matter, not the production of it, and fast-forward to the end once I have nothing better to do.

All this movie did was make me feel old. Really old. I was 21 when the first one came out. Suspension of disbelief is one thing but to have the same actors, some of then clearly in their seventies (at least!) trying to pretend they're still Police Officers after what must be nearly 50 years of service for some of them, just doesn't work. By all means have the old characters retired and meet up to solve a case or two, but NOT as Serving Officers after so long; in fact it was really sad, as if someone had opened the door to an Old Folks Home and said: 'Let's pretend it's 1984 again and we'll all try to be young'. The plot was... okay... Axel has / had a family and now rediscovers his daughter, who of course is a Yuman Roights "the criminals are really all innocent and the Police are all bullies who never study the evidence" type who works for free cos it's the great thing to do in movies. It really became a case of waiting for the next cameo and like myself, some of the old faces have NOT weathered well in time, and of course, it really became a case of "let the next generation rescue the old crocks as they can't hack it any more" sort of thing. It made me feel old, and useless, and realise that things really have moved on since then, and I sat through it as a kind of bittersweet experience. I wish they'd left Axel as a happy memory from the 1980s.