The Situation (2007)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:46
Fresh:17
Rotten:29
Average Rating:5/10
Consensus: An ambitious but preachy drama that fails to convincingly parcel its thriller and romance elements.
Runtime: 1 hr 46 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Shooting a fictional movie based on a real war while that war still rages is a risky proposition. But director Philip Haas (THE MUSIC OF CHANCE) has taken the plunge with THE SITUATION, a film set... [More]
Starring: Damian Lewis, Connie Nielsen, John Slattery, Peter Eyre
Director: Philip Haas
Reviews for The Situation
| Tomatometer | Critic | Review | Category |
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Click to read the article Full Review |
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 2.5/5 |
I don't think this movie sheds any new light on 'the situation', but it could have, and it's a shame that it didn't. Full Review |
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2/4 |
A pretty lousy movie in general, though it's the film's somewhat accusatory Iraq War subject matter that's getting it some attention -- deserved or not -- that makes the whole thing a little distasteful. Full Review |
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2/4 |
The concept is strong and expertly fleshed out; it's just a pity that Hollywood tropes are allowed to invade. Full Review |
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 3/4 |
Beneath the melodrama is an insider's account of the seemingly inconsequential details often edited out of dispatches from the front. Full Review |
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B |
The essential message in this strongly felt film comes clear: 'It's Iraq.' It used to be bad, but now it's worse. And anyone in his right mind, including Iraqis, wants to get out. Full Review |
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3/4 |
The Situation' is bound to stir up controversy because of the way Americans are portrayed, and anything that gets people talking and thinking is for the good. It brings the war home, where our soldiers should be. Full Review |
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2.5/4 |
It's a credit to the material and the basic plot that even as you're groaning over a clunky speech explaining it all, you're completely focused on what the situation in Iraq actually is. Full Review |
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[Haas'] attempt to convey the tangled relations between sheikhs and insurgents, occupiers and civilians is undercut by Wendell Steavenson's mightily overwritten screenplay. Full Review |
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4/5 |
Bringing the chaos down to very human terms redefines the paradigm for thinking about the occupation, and makes this a film that is more than a mere exercise in action/adventure Full Review |
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C- |
There are a half dozen people in colorful supporting roles all of whom have their own truths. And all of whom are far more interesting, as characters and actors, than [Connie Nielsen]. Full Review |
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3/4 |
A gripping briefing on the post-Saddam morass of Iraq. The tactical calculus used by sheiks, insurgents, CIA operatives, soldiers, and civilians is ugly, but it's not inscrutable. Full Review |
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Even as it makes a mucky melodrama out of the war in Iraq, this effect does not seem entirely inappropriate, as it accommodates a U.S. perspective of its own actions. Full Review |
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You want better for this film, but the discomfort it causes is not a matter of it being too soon for the audience, but rather, it seems, for the filmmakers. Full Review |
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The Situation does an admirable job of guiding us through an almost hopeless quagmire. Full Review |
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His heart is in the right place, and our current situation cries out for a film like this %u2026 like this, but much better made. Full Review |
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2/ |
It's [Wendell Steavenson] first screenplay, and it shows; while not the movie's only problem, the script is a big one, made up as it is primarily of dialogue that isn't just expository, but clunkily explanatory. Full Review |
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2/5 |
The Situation is promoting itself as the first American dramatic feature film to deal with the occupation of Iraq. While that may be true, it turns out not to matter that much. Full Review |
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The film would have made a serviceable drama, perhaps, if [writer] Steavenson and [director] Haas weren't so inured to trite utterances. Full Review |
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As ambitious in scope as it is interpretively timid, The Situation delivers the requisite incendiary climax, but collapses in on itself with daft speeches about the elusiveness of truth in something called 'the fourth dimension of time.' Full Review |
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