Recently, I took a vacation with my family to Hawaii, and whilst we were there, we stumbled upon some rice paddies that had been used in the filming of "Uncommon Valor", a film that, up until then, I had never heard about. Always the cinephile, I immediately jumped on IMDb and did a bit of research. At first glance, the film didn't look great. It had received mostly negative reviews, but I was familiar with the director Ted Kotcheff ("First Blood", "Wake in Fright") so I figured it couldn't be all bad. Well, now I've watched it, and I can confirm it's pretty bad. It's not terrible. There are a few scenes that I could point to and say, "This is the reason Gene Hackman chose to do this script," but there are enough moments that I wondered if something had gone wrong during production. One of the things that stuck out to me first was the bland cinematography and disjointed editing. There are so many scenes that are shot full bodied, with the camera just pointed vaguely in the direction of the action. Those kinds of shots don't say anything about the characters or their motivations, nor does it make the film any more interesting. The editing was so jumbled that sometimes the viewer had to piece together what happened in order for the scene to make any sense. There were also quite a few issues with art department. Perhaps the most notable issue was when Gene Hackman and company wander through a village that has been hit with mustard gas. When Hackman and his coterie file through this village, there are dozens of bleached white bones scattered across the ground instead of mutilated corpses. There's also a scene were soldiers are training in full gear, and then in the next shot, all of the soldiers are wearing all of their gear except their army boots; instead of boots they wear tennis shoes. I suspect that the costume department probably forgot their boots that day, Kotcheff just decided to shoot anyways. There were a few moments that seemed glimmers of hope in an otherwise dismal and dreary world, but would I recommend it? Heavens no. This film has largely been forgotten, as well it should. There are plenty of better Vietnam movies out there, and plenty of them that follow a similar storyline. Unless you've an undying love for Swayze or Hackman, you can skip this one.
For our full review of Uncommon Valor
Review of Uncommon Valor
