Tunnel Rats (2008)

Better Late Then Never

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Make no bones about it, this film is TERRIBLE. Everything about the making and production of this film has been shockingly misjudged.For the first 30 minutes of this Boll tries to make you fell empathy for the character's bleak situation for what lies ahead, but instead it just irritates you as the characters are all paper-thin and the dialogue is terrible. As the film progresses it becomes more and more silly, and is riddled with historical and tactical inaccuracies, which really make you think he should have read a bit more into the background of the actual tunnel rat units in Vietnam. At some point it almost borders on insult towards Americans in its ridiculous and unsentimental portrayal of its fighting men.If like me, you watched this film hoping for insight into this fascinating aspect of fighting in the Vietnam war, I suggest instead you read Mangold & Penycate's Tunnels of CuChi, its what Boll should have done.

This movie is really, really bad. I don't understand who gave the money to make it. It's real hard to point out the mistakes as there are everywhere uniforms, field gear, weapons it's all wrong. Viet Cong wearing steel helmets, 5.56mm mags in their weapons, most of the US gear is from the 80's... I could go on and on and on. I can't find any part of the movie worth watching, it's unwatchable even after a 0,5l of vodka. A real disaster. I must say, I have some knowledge about Vietnam War and read some/watch some of the literature/movies about this period. Anyway, I couldn't find one thing right in this movie. Not a single one...

I don't count myself among Uwe Boll's apologists. I think it's important I mention that before I start talking about "Tunnel rats". I find all his films utter crap, and the fact that he has found stardom among the geeks as "the world's worst film director" a sort of cosmic joke that only God, should he exist, and Boll himself might find funny.Then there's the occasional hint that he's not stupid. Like the sheer brilliance of one of his latest publicity stunts, boxing his critics, or his systematic criticism of Hollywood directors he finds as bad as he is. And even the latter has its own dose of lame-ness. Here's one director who doesn't claim he could make Hollywood blockbusters better than American directors, but just as badly as them.Anyway, I had some expectations for "Tunnel rats", expectations that I have seen fulfilled, as you may guess from the fact that this thread is on the "Good movies" board. The film is nothing like "Platoon", which I still think it's the best Vietnam movie made so far, but more like "The Siege of Firebase Gloria", "Hamburger Hill" or even "Platoon leader". That is, I expected a movie light on content and budget but competently made and gritty, and that's what I got."Tunnel rats" tells the story of an American unit deployed in the jungles of Vietnam, where they are ordered to explore and take out a vast network of tunnels build by the Vietcong. And that's it. It plays like a cross between "Firebase Gloria" and "Cube", because sooner or later most characters end up underground, fighting for their survival.The best I can say about "Tunnel rats", and the most accurate way to describe it, is to say it doesn't feel like an Uwe Boll movie. The production values are adequate, the music and cinematography are top notch and the acting is competent all around. The latter could have been even better, but the script doesn't exactly shine at character development. It wants all the characters to be underdeveloped, so you don't know who's going to die next, and acts accordingly.Even better, the camera-work is actually pretty good. Boll here finally gets rid of that terrible habit of his of trying to cram to many things into the same movie, and the tone and the approach remain consistent throughout the whole movie. For once, you can see him aiming for subtlety instead of blatant plagiarism and schlock. Yes, I was shocked too. Here Boll restraints the camera as much as he can, aiming (and achieving) a tense calm in the scenes set in the surface, and a harrowing, claustrophobic sensation whenever anybody enters the tunnels.Not all is that good, though. There are a few scenes depicting the V.C. fighters that carefully avoid taking sides, but which feel nevertheless a tad cliché, and a major action scene in the surface abandons the quietness of the previous action bits for a hand-held, rushed camera-work that feels like a major mistake.But still, this is a must see, specially for those who enjoyed the many Nam actioners of the VHS era. Considering how tightly paced it is, and how careful Boll has been this time not to screw this one up, it's unlikely he does anything better anytime soon. What the hell, this film may easily end up passing as his masterpiece.

I realize that, being an American, I may not be the most objective about this... but really! This movie made the American troops look like bumbling, cruel, calloused idiots vs. the gentile, peace-loving, well trained VC. I am a veteran, and having been to war and understand the reality of the fact that both sides are human. I also understand that America is not always right. Even allowing for those things I cant give any credit here for an attempt at accuracy. There was nothing objective about the clear anti-American bias in this movie. If you enjoy watching American soldiers die then you may like this movie... This is a horrible movie about a horrible war...