MovieChat Forums > Tunnel Rats (2009) Discussion > Turned it off after 30 min or so...

Turned it off after 30 min or so...


I've read alot of comments on here and see ALOT of people defending the guy who made this movie. I don't know who he is, never heard if him before and I'm not a "film enthusiast" so to speak so I feel that my view is pretty unbiased.

With that said, this movie was pure $hit! The parts I saw at least...The bad acting started it off bad for me. Then the pointless babbling by the actors when they were eating "chow" made it even worse. To me it seemed like the movie was dragging on. Then I got to the first tunnel scenes and had to turn it off. I'm no film critic expert but I know enough about films to know if I am watching a good movie or not. I will admit I did like the opening scene with the 2525 song. That pumped me up to only let me down. I think I may try it again when I get home this afternoon just to see if I can change my mind. To me it was just downright boring. I'm not holding my breath though...

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Completely agree, leave History of war films to actually Veterans like Oliver Stone, not this guy or quietin tarantino (basterds was *beep* too)

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not saying Oliver Stone doesn't know his war experience, but how would YOU know that he knows about how to make a movie about the war exprience?

The thing that bothers me is that 690 people voted 0 on a film probably because of Uwe Boll's participation as the director. I've never heard of him but what he has produced here is a very frightening and depressing vision of what it must be like fighting in Vietnam. No other film I think has come close to accomplishing the raw terror of being trapped under ground, with no idea where you will end up, or if you will even survive. The characters have zero development in this movie because it is like real life in the present tense, you only get development after you live for a while. All the main characters die and none are safe.. this is real life. In traditional war films, you can identify the protagonist and supporting characters that you know will survive with all likelihood. Here you have a film where nobody lives to tell the story. This is a movie that shows the heartbreak and sadness of a person who's life was lost and nobody knows their story, which is a genuine human tragedy, not knowing what happened to a loved one or a serviceman who is still MIA and presumed KIA. It's powerful, it has it's flaws, but it's also a good piece of work and speaks for those who are forgotten or missing.

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How would I know? because I've served in Afghanistan (2PPCLI) roto dates march-sept 07, best friend died due to an IED..
I've never heard of Uwe boll, so I'm not judging it on that basis. I feel it's disrespectful to Veterans to protray them in a "serious" war film like this which is so far from the truth about Vietnam, nothing was correct in this film! It's something else to make a comedy like tropic thunder, but for Boll to actually believe he came close is ridculous!
I've read Tom Mangold's Tunnels of Cui Chi" and there is no similarities!

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Afghanistan and Vietnam are two completely different animals.

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I agree, tours are now 6 months instead of 1 year, patrols don't last up to a month anymore in the bush, and there's no more drugs, fraggings or whorehouses. Although the Greenzone in Helmand province is a little similar to III corps in Viet Nam, and the guerilla's are still around, and blend into a "vills"
I just stated my military History, because an above thread asked what do I know about anything military.

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Well I will be unlike a lot of douche bags and say thank you for your service to our country.

I'm no vet, but I am curious to see what a Nam vet would say about this film. My cousin was a helicopter gunner (and we see how many of them came back). I'd like to see what he'd say about this.

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He wasn't asking what you knew about the military (served as a 291er myself in the CF), he was asking what you knew about the Vietnam war and how you would know if this film is accurate or not. I've done a lot of research about the Vietnam conflict (it's a hobby...) this film seems quite accurate in portraying the story of the tunnel rats... it does have a low budget but it gets plenty of mileage out of it. No the director may not be a Viet veteran but I'm sure he's spoken to several veterans (US and Vietnamese) and didn't just write this story out of thin air.

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I get that he tried, but to me the vietnamese soldiers with a single leaf sticking out of their helmets as "camouflage", and the one handed m60 rambo firing did somewhat spoil the film's interesting premise.

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Wow, I just now saw all of this. I appreciate that Uwe Boll may have portrayed the whole tunnel rat method of combat accurately but I think the low budget really hurt this film. I think if someone better had been able to do this film it may have been watchable. I tried to watch it more after the first 30 minutes and I just couldn't do it.

"Dennis I wouldn't put that in my mouth, you don't know where it's been."--Christine

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You say "$hit" so that means dollar hit which means I think you liked it!

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