Starring Matt Damon (and host of other folks whose names you cannot pronounce and won’t remember anyway)
TMG Scale 7.5
I should add that Brendan Gleeson (Harry Potter fans I guess will know him) gives a solid effort as the malcontent but all knowing CIA man in Baghdad. If you like Matt Damon (and TMG is one of his biggest fans) you will love this movie, period. Think of Blackhawk Down but a person “downed” versus a helicopter.
The downside is that the writer and director try to push a political message down your throat that has more fiction than a debate among Al Sharpton, Chris Mathews and Steny Hoyer on the merits of healthcare reform. TMG is less of a political guy than a stickler for facts and historical accuracy. ” Listen up and be advised” (they say that a lot in the military). President Bush and Colin Powell did not invade Iraq in 2003. You cannot invade a country you already occupy half of. They invaded Baghdad to remove Saddam Hussein—a guy who invaded an innocent country, mustard gassed his own people, killed children, broke more UN Treaties than Dolly Pardon has broken bra straps, and raped and abused women. Good enough? WMD was a very bad and ill advised public relations tool the Bush administration really blew out of proportion, but invading Baghdad and removing Saddam was the “right thing to do.” Period. Facts and accurate history preserved. Off the TMG lectern.
This was otherwise a very good war movie and well filmed and acted. The movie will keep you awake and thinking. TMG is sure the writer did not intend, but it should make anyone more convinced that war is to be waged by soldiers and the military and the politicians and bureaucrats need to keep the heck out of it. The lesson of Viet Nam over and over again. But after all its a movie. It entertained. It gets you pumped up and thinking. This is a good thing. But let’s not rewrite history. Hooah? Good