This movie is a tragedy about the cost of bitterness and resentment. I’m rarely in the mood for a bleak morality tale, but those who need the lesson would do well to pay close attention. The novel is vividly realized here though it sometimes abruptly changes tones, apparently in an attempt to include more content from the book.
Closest comparison: It’s like The Place Beyond the Pines by way of Gone With the Wind.
Setting: Gothic Horror
Plot: Tragedy
Tone: Drama
This movie has some gorgeous visuals and solid fight choreography, but the message is so aggressively detestable and pushed so continually that it makes the entire film vomit-inducingly unwatchable. It goes on and on about how terrible it is to lay down one’s life for family, friends, and country, making a big deal about how foolish and counterproductive everyone in the military is. The movie seems to think it’s terribly clever for making every capable, forthright character a woman and every man a sniveling, useless imbecile (except for the one black man of course). It’s so far up it’s own ass it could swallow itself twice, and seems completely unaware of its internal circular logic.
Closest comparison: It’s like Downton Abbey by way of Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, with a bit of 1917 thrown in.
Setting: Adventure
Plot: Espionage
Tone: Action Comedy
