Watch on cable; don't buy DVD
I saw this on cable tonight, I think it was Showtime. It was just OK at best. The best thing that can be said about it is for the most part, it didn't make you embarassed to be an American, which seems to be the point of most of the war movies based on Iraq. The Hollywood left seems to be intent on disparaging our country, our president, and our military every chance it gets. I'd have preferred that this movie would have stayed away from that altogether; and just taken an honest look at what our soldiers go through over there, and that they were just glad to be alive at the end of the day.
The acting was rather bland, many of the lines were downright corny, and some of the action and scenery was hokey. For the most part, the action was OK, but a little repetitious, and it did seem that around every corner was an insurgent with an RPG. Fortunately, for these soldiers, most of them couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. The entire part where they come upon the torture camp should have been left out of this movie; it detracted from the film rather than enhancing it. This group of actors was not experienced enough to handle a situation like this, and the script was so weak anyway that no serious debate even took place about the situation. It came off as bizarre and not in keeping with what should have been the main point of the movie; just show what a bad day in Iraq is really like for the soldiers. In reality, I doubt that this group would have been in any kind of shape to take in the captors, let alone all the prisoners in this horror chamber in the middle of hostile territory. I was never a soldier, but I can't see it; if it was me, I just report the situation and wash my hands of it. It would have been a matter of survival.
The movie seemed to start out fairly well, but disintegrated by the end so much that our heroes ran out of ammo, but somehow defeated a group of Iraqis armed with M16s. That was really the worst part of the whole movie. A better ending would have been to pretend to run out of ammo, and just before the gang of insurgents came over the hill to finish off the squad, the sarge would be there with the machine gun, and mow them all down. I have all the respect in the world for our troops, but M16s will trump knives every time.
This movie is ok to watch on cable for a night of entertainment, but don't expect anything too deep. It's average at best, but it's at least watchable. The FX series, Over There, was much better, and yet lasted only one season. I'd give this movie two of five stars, or 4 of ten points. That's being kind, I think, but the movie really isn't as bad as some on here make it out to be.