MovieChat Forums > Kokoda Discussion > Found the movie weak and unbelieveable :...

Found the movie weak and unbelieveable :(

posted 18 years ago by david-2626
31 replies | jump to latest

I saw this movie today on the big screen and i can honestly not believe
some of the comments made by people on here. I was really hoping to be
touched by this film, but wasn't.

I'm ex Australian Army and very patriotic towards this great country,
but I feel this movie no way does justice for us and those soldier who
fought at this battle.

The movie is poorly filmed. I thought the acting was terrible, they
were not believable and they didn't give me any reason for me to care
about them. People are saying this movie was graphic, there were a
couple of graphic scenes but I found most part very weak. The war
scenes were very short and only last a couple of minutes.

Overall a weak film that doesn't do these soldiers any justice.

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] scotthendo 18 years ago

Dont say that you are not going to see the movie because this other bloody idiot says that it aint any good. It was by far the best movie I have seen in a long time. As to the comment that the battle scenes were not long enough, they were fighting a guerilla war, they did not stay in one place for too long they would set up an ambush and then fall back before the main force arrived. The movie was not about the battle of Isuvara, even though it was featured, it was about the platoon trying to get back to the battle. As for the comment of bad acting, are you blind, deaf, dumb and stupid or all of the above?

[–] jonny2904 18 years ago

Take into consideration that this is a movie that has a budget alot lower than Saving Private Ryan. Of course you're not going to get the scenes you see in SPR in Kokoda. Go see the movie not to compare it against a 45 minute invasion and graphic war scenes (which i admit was bloody awesome in SPR) but just to see how an Australian film on Kokoda looks and feels like and you make a judgement for yourself. I saw it on ANZAC day and we had a pretty packed cinema. Good Aussie humour in it and the horror of jungle warfare stood out for me. Some people said there was little characterisation...come on consider the situation in PNG at the time and you wouldnt have time for a 15 minute break where guys sit down and talk while being chased behind enemy lines. I for one liked the movie. Made me scared, laugh, interested and it portrayed strongly throughout the film the words on the Isurava memorial.

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[–] Governor_Frontbottom 18 years ago

Well to be fair we have been looking after Rolf Harris and Mark Little for you, you could at least let us send over a couple of our actors to have cameo parts

http://www.boreme.com/boreme/funny-2005/plane-v-concrete-p1.php

[–] keith-283 18 years ago

I'm glad it's not like Private Ryan as I found that film, with the exception of the superb opening scenes, risible.

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[–] cinefile1968 18 years ago

i cant agree with you more david.

the critics in australia must be delusional because this film typifies what is wrong with the australian film industry. Terribly written & terribly directed and the only reason it is because its attempting (and failing) to portrey a great moment in australian history. watching that movie made it seem like it was those 5 guys who saved australia from invasion.

please dont encourage the FFC to back these types of films. save your money.

[–] yellowdischarge 18 years ago

If you think the movie in any way made it seem like those 5 guys saved Australia, then you have ADD and lost concentration part way through when they were doing everything but save Australia.

[–] greasegun 18 years ago

john what's the story? Your comments are so innaccurate that you must have some motive other than fairly reporting on this film.

[–] Green_Death 18 years ago

I was really looking forward to watching this movie after reading Bryce Courtenay's "Four Fires" and wanting to know more about Australia's war history. "Four Fires", although being far too long and rambling, finished on a high note with the narrator falling into post-traumatic stress disorder after his war experiences. Bryce Courtenay, being an educative type of author, included some comments about how Australians were quite dismissive of the condition when it emerged as a psychological term in the 1970s. I had heard of PTSD before but had never seen it put into a narrative context like this before. I'm not big on war movies but I got to thinking that every country which produces "war artwork" needs an angle and tragedy comes across quite well in Australian war drama if Bryce Courtenay's example is anything to go by. It made me think of my grandfather and appreciate why he never spoke about the war. Meanwhile "Kokoda" firstly had a very thin story. We knew very little about the characters. The 'climax' of the film, if there was one, glorified war. The soldiers stood about looking very proud while they received a strongly worded debriefing. I have my doubts that people who had been through such tragic experiences would have looked so fulfilled. The filming was very poor. There were so many wasted shots. The acting was of a performance school standard. I came away from this film feeling that it had been made for people who had no experience of war and wanted to have the glorified image retained, but with a little bit of gore to give it some "substance". Maybe it was made for the partners of those who have been to war so they could rave about how brave their loved one is/was. The thing is, it would have been effective if it had been made for the people who actually went to war. If it had shown the crippling effects of war like Bryce Courtenay's book did it might have given people a more realistic view and got the veterans talking themselves. I agree with the person who said this movie might have been made 50 years ago. It does nothing to advance the genre of war film in Australia. Like Japan, Britain and America, Australia needs to find a way to tell war stories effectively. Bryce Courtenay has taken a step in the right direction with his book I think.

[–] SadisticPunisher 18 years ago

All i can say is - GooD Aussie movie, dont like it? Fark off.

[–] Green_Death 18 years ago

Does 'Aussie' means weak and unbelievable? 'Cos 'Kokoda' certainly is that. If you want your country to keep churning out crap films, keep your attitude up.

[–] miss_nailstabber 18 years ago

If its so unbelievable, then why did the diggers- WHO WERE ACTUALLY THERE- say that is was definately an accurate depiction then?
the Australian film industry may have gotten a bit of a bad name in terms of good movies, but some of them; for example Kokoda, makes you think alot deeper than some other American crap.

American movies are usually very shallow and hardly make you think, but because they have giant budgets and a "famous" actor they earn bigger bucks and cop less critisism than Australian movies

[–] suave_sage 18 years ago

I completely agree. I dont know why people are dissing this movie. I would put it right up at the top with an acurate depiction of war. It could have been done better. maybe another 20 mins or so to get us more intouch with the characters. but i beleive this is by far one of the best australian movies produced in a long time. The acting could have been better but I think the new acting that was put in this film was very good and it the movie was less about acting and more about the nervous tension and visuals that put you right in the thick of it. But i do agree the scene at the end, though not glorfying war, but more making people bear witness to the intense bravery and tenacity that the soldiers at Kokoda fought with, could have been left out. IN fact this movie is anti war if anything.

i am not usually one to go out and buy a movie after seeing it. But this movie deserves it. It is a must have in a DVD collection even if it is too nerve racking to watch twice. I loved it.

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[–] Green_Death 18 years ago

"One of the basic requirements of drama is that the protagonist/s go on a journey of some sort"

I agree, that's entirely absent from the film, it's just a series of events with no apparent consequence to the characters.

"What does Kokoda have to say, politically, if anything?"

Nothing, and I think that's a major problem.

[–] subase 13 years ago

I agree, really the only impressive thing about this film was the semi-realism of combat in a jungle setting, a portrayal that's not that great but still much better than say the Jungle in the, Thin Red Line and The Pacific.

[–] koowah 18 years ago

Spot on mate I thought it was pretty weak as well. It's a shame that this movie will now taint the memory of Kokoda from now on.

[–] Green_Death 18 years ago

I don't think it will taint the memory, just not contribute anything to it. I guess the director wanted to avoid cliches when he made it (so chose to avoid showing PTSD) and it was probably edited with the Anzac Day release in mind so they would have faced an uphill battle of Kokoda proportions to make it more challenging. I now reckon that there needed to be more character development in the early part of the film, more about the background of the characters and the conflicts that arise from putting together such a ragged bunch. Perhaps we needed to see the characters in their home environments before they reached Kokoda to underscore the differences in the environment and also so we could readily distinguish between the characters. I take back all my Bryce Courtenay stuff from my earlier post, realising that he probably got his assistant to plunder Australian history and fiction to find the idea about PTSD in the first place, making it a bit hackneyed.

[–] lordesf 16 years ago

i think they should of put more money into it, with more special effects and just how their filmed it.. mostly was dull and boring, the characters were kinda underdeveloped i seiorusly diidnt feel much empathy for any of them except maybe 1

[–] veeloss 16 years ago

Compared to Rabbit Proof Fence, Wolf Creek and The Proposition, this is a good movie.

It did need some more character backgrounding but thats about it.

The lack of financing tells you why its peripheral to the main battle. The lack of actually seeing the Japs makes it more realistic.

Overall probably the best real people movie since Mad Max or Croc Dundee (I'm not counting animations)

[–] loco_motivez 16 years ago

I thought Rabbit Proof Fence, Wolf Creek and The Proposition were better.. but anyway, they are a different genre of Australian cinema..

I thought this movie was greatly done on a small budget.. but it had me thinking where are the Japanese? I only seen maybe 2 faces, the rest were probably Australians pretending to be Japanese.. that's why you couldn't seen their faces during any scenes of confrontation.. Surely you can find more Japanese on a small budget haha..

[–] The_Khazi 16 years ago

SPOILER.I`d heard largely negative things on the main "war board" about this film("missed opportunity") but despite a severely limited budget I think it does a reasonable enough job and remains respecful. Tension as the largely unseen Japanese(and yes acording to the credits ,out of the 6 Jap soldiers, three were clearly not from Asia)stalk the Aussies and not afraid to depict the brutal conditions- such as the awful rain and mud the soldiers had to fight in.Memorable early sequence where the soldier gets totally submerged and pulled free by a colleague.Did we really though have to see a severe close up of a poor guys` bowel movement early on in the picture -I think it was quite obvious what he was doing!

It`s a reasonable attempt at a battle/campaign which unfortunately remains largely unknown outside Australia but the importance of this film,despite it`s modesty,is that it will hopefully arouse some curiosity in people who`ve never heard of Kokoda,or what it signifies.

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[–] The_Khazi 16 years ago

yep some good titles there although not familiar with "Rats Of Tobruk".Sure you must have seen "Anzacs"-quality TV series from the 80`s.I was going to recommend "The Last Bullet"(1995)with Jason Donovan, but if you didn`t like "Kokoda" you probably wouldn`t go for that either.

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[–] Drewy 12 years ago

It's a shame that this movie will now taint the memory of Kokoda from now on.

There is a lot of crap in this thread but this one sentence is the most ridiculous of them all. Do you really believe that what you think is a bad movie will taint the memory of gallant soldiers? What, people will stop attending Anzac Day marches maybe? Boo the veterans of Kokoda or their descendants when they go past? Because of a movie? Goose!

I remember an interview with fiction author Stephen King. The interviewer asked him a question about Hollywood ruining his novels. He spun around in faux horror and looked at his bookcase, relieved to see that poor movies had not in any way affected his books. There they were, as they always had been.

Similarly, any bad war movie does not taint the deeds of heroic soldiers. What they did stands or falls on its own merits.

I make no comment on the quality of the movie. Others have done that in this thread.

[–] 12 years ago

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