While the film tries to be sensitive to the people's plight, it does itself (and the soldiers) a disservice by presenting them as brittle, emotionally fragile victims.
Comment
10/25/07
Home of the Brave (2006)
23
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:53
Fresh:12
Rotten:41
Average Rating:4.2/10
Consensus: The ensemble cast works hard, but hammy direction and a script lacking in nuance ruins this movie’s noble intentions.
Runtime: 1 hr 45 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Synopsis: The Vietnam War provided plenty of cinematic ruminations on the futility of battle and the struggle of returning soldiers to adjust to normal life. With HOME OF THE BRAVE director Irwin Winkler... [More]
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Curtis Jackson, Jessica Biel, Christina Ricci
Director: Irwin Winkler
Reviews for Home of the Brave
Shows some significant strengths but ultimately misses the mark due to incompletely developed characters and hesitation to hit home as hard as the subject matter justifies.
10/20/07
This is morose, head-shaking stuff, and director Irwin Winkler (Life as a House, De-Lovely) isn't one to ease up on the 'ol emotional manipulation button.
09/18/07
This is Hollywood's first big-screen attempt at portraying the plight of the tens of thousands of Americans returning from Iraq. They deserve a deeper, more substantive portrait of their transition back to the homefront, and some day, they'll get it.
12/11/06
Home Of The Brave ultimately says ... what? War is tough. That's fair, and so is [director] Winkler's reluctance to engage the politics of this particular war and focus on the soldiers that fight it.
12/17/06
Although it plays like a rough draft of a better Iraq War film yet to be made, Home of the Brave should put the subject on the front page, where it belongs.
12/15/06
It often undercuts its nobler goals by resorting to hammy dialogue and unnecessarily melodramatic contrivances.
05/25/07
It's a formulaic, overacted piece of work that rarely delves deep.
12/14/06
A motion picture that isn't just bad, it's abysmal. One of the worst films of the year, and nothing but a disservice to everyone fighting in Iraq (and to everyone sitting through the movie).
12/12/06
Except for the Iraqi action prologue, it's a stretch to say this is any more than a run-of-the-mill TV movie. Worthy assignment; poor execution.
12/06/06
The war in Iraq gets a lathery soft soap treatment in producer-cum-director Irwin Winkler's distortion of emotions and realities associated with a group of returning soldiers.
04/24/09
Another ill-conceived war drama that doesn't do justice to the men and women serving in Iraq.
12/12/06
This is a solid and timely piece of work from Hollywood veteran Irwin Winkler.
12/18/06
A vote against its heavy-handedness does not make you or I a troop hater. In fact, I believe they deserve a narrative free of after-school special dramatics.
12/14/06
There was more reality, dramatic conflict, emotional texture, and even humor in The Best Years of Our Lives and The Men (Brando's debut), which were made half a century ago, than in this well intentioned but formulaic drama about vets of the Iraq War.
12/11/06
Without question, an important, thought- and emotion-provoking film, certain to be controversial, and to be remembered.
12/30/06
A Hallmark TV drama about the very antithesis of a Hallmark moment.
12/13/06
The good scenes hit home, but the bad ones tilt towards melodrama and sentimentality.
12/14/06
There is less truth in this entire work than in a few minutes of such recent documentaries as The War Tapes or The Ground Truth.
12/17/06
Sure, it's earnest -- sure, it's melodramatic. Yup, it's just barely this side of being a made-for-Lifetime TV soaper. But there's a mesmerizing power to this little film that comes from its sheer un-told-ness, from its right-now immediacy.
01/02/07
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