User Reviews

"Courage Under Fire" is a modern war film that has some action segments from the Gulf War. But, it mostly is a drama about what happens to people during war. In this instance, the effects of mistakes, insubordination, cowardice, deceit, selfishness, lack of team support, and the results of confusion and pressure under combat. All of these are part of a fictional story that takes place during the Aug. 1990-Feb. 1991 war and the months afterward. Two separate fictional stories from Desert Storm, the military operation of the war, come together in this film.

It's an engaging story and plot. All of the cast are very good in their roles. The camera work and all production values are excellent. The film isn't a flag-waiver; nor is it anti-military. But it is a good film to show the horrors of war and what can and probably does happen with mistakes. I think it's a good film to show the reality of politics, military order, dedicated career men and women in the military, and the sometimes foibles of command and leadership. It also shows the dark side of human nature that not many war movies show, understandably – in the rebellion, cowardice and self-interest of some GIs.

After Iraq invaded the small Persian Gulf nation of Kuwait in 1990, a United Nations resolution condemned the action. That led to a coalition force of 35 nations to drive the Iraqis out and free Kuwait. The American-led force succeeded in routing the Iraqis to end the Gulf War. The combat operation was called Desert Storm. The two separate stories from Desert Storm come together after the end of the war.

LCol. Nat Serling (Denzel Washington) had commanded an armored group during the war. Enemy tanks infiltrated the American line and began shooting at American tanks. In the frenzy that followed Serling's tank was hit with some small fire, and his group was reporting strikes on the radio. He ordered his gunner to find an enemy target and, when he said he had one, Serling ordered him to shoot. They hit and killed a friendly tank that had veered out of the ranks to try to flank the enemy. The tank commander was a friend of Serling. During this nighttime action, the gunners had difficulty identifying the enemy tanks. So, Serling ordered all the American tanks to turn on their lights, and then to open fire on any tanks that did not have lights. They quickly spotted and killed a number of Iraqi tanks. Serling was shaken by their mistake, and it haunted him. The incident was covered up and his friend was listed as a casualty of enemy fire. But that didn't square it with Serling.

Now in a job at the Pentagon, Serling is given a case to investigate. It's the recommendation of a posthumous Medal of Honor. Capt. Karen Walden (Meg Ryan) would be the first woman to receive the award. Serling is to investigate all aspects of her mission and make his recommendation. Walden was the pilot of a rescue helicopter that was hit by enemy fire and crashed. Serling interviews the men of the downed Black Hawk that she went to rescue, and then he tracks down the survivors of her crew. Their stories conflict with those of the Black Hawk crew enough that he probes deeper.

In the course of the film, Serling has flashbacks of his own incident. As he interviews Walden's crew, he gets different detailed stories about her, in flashbacks as told by the different crew members. Serling is under pressure to speed up his investigation so that there can be a major White House event. But his investigation and persistent probing ferrets out the truth about Walden, her actions, and those of her crew. As Serling wraps up the Walden investigation for recognition of a heroic woman, he comes to grips with his own demons. He meets the parents of his friend to tell them that he had fired on their son and killed him. Their reactions are charitable and Serling is able to find peace and return to his wife and children healed of his emotional wounds.

Just for the record, at least here on IMDb, I think this is an underrated film. And I say that as a person who very rarely likes movies about the military. My dad was in the military most of his adult life, and when he would come home on leave he would always drag me to some war film. I hated it. So, I rarely watch a war movie. But this is a keeper.

First, the cast. And let me review the actors in the order of how impressive they were in this film. Denzel Washington, as a Lieutenant Colonel investigating whether a dead female captain should receive the Medal Of Honor, and who himself may have been involved in friendly fire deaths, and who has an alcohol problem, is excellent. Lou Diamond Phillips, as a Staff Sergeant who was at the helicopter crash where the female soldier was killed, is superb here (I never knew he was such a hunk...just for the record). Regina Taylor, as the wife of Washington, is excellent! Meg Ryan, the helicopter pilot who dies, is good, but although her role is pivotal, this is not a very good showcase of her talents, and I do not see her here as the co-star to Denzel Washington. I found Matt Damon rather unimpressive here, but of course, this was just before his breakthrough role that immediately followed this film. Bronson Pinchot was an interesting choice as a White House aide, and he does okay. Michael Moriarty is good as a Brigadier General, as is Scott Glenn as a Washington Post reporter.

While I can't say whether or not the Iraq battle scenes were realistic, they impressed me.

Despite some inconsistencies, I think the story is a good one. And not a simple one, since the issues that Denzel Washington's character has are complicating his investigation of whether or not Ryan's character should receive the Medal Of Honor. Washington does an admirable job of mixing all these factors and fleshing out the character traits of his role. In fact, this was one of Washington's early films which convinced me that he was an actor that America should treasure.

Despite a few flaws, highly recommended.

Enjoyable Gulf War yarn about the investigation into the awarding of a medal of honour to a valiant captain who risked life and limb to save a troop of doomed soldiers trapped on the ground.

Smart script and well-paced editing help, as do the great cast. Denzel Washington is always a must, and his performance here boosts his reputation. Strong support comes from a range of co-stars including Matt Damon and Lou Diamond Phillips (his best role since "Stand and Deliver"). It's fantastic to see Meg Ryan in a role that is such a departure for her, and her turn is a worthy one too.

Finally a good film from director Ed Zwick, his first success since "Glory" (1989).

Saturday, February 12, 2000 - Video

Welcome to another edition of Adam's Reviews!! Queue in intro music**

Today movie review is the war drama Courage Under Fire (1996) set during the Gulf War starring Meg Ryan, a fallen Captain Karen Walden and my man Denzel Washington as Lt. Colonel Nat Sterling, who is investigating whether a posthumous medal of honour is to be presented to Ryan's character given she may have sacrificed for her squad and for her country. Throughout the film Denzel's character pieces through the puzzles as to what happened the Ryan and her squad by interviewing the survivors of the mission and each member provide their take of a different story which obviously doesn't match up. At the same time we also learn the Denzel is suffering guilt of his own actions prior to the investigation of a night attach where he gave an order which ended up as "friendly fire" resulting in the death of his own men.

The survivors includes the skinny as medic Ilario (Mr Matt Jason Bourne Damon himself), who portrays the incident of as heroic antic by the deceased Captain and another by the stereotypical macho solder Monfriez (Young Guns alum Lou Diamond Phillips) who portrays the Captain as a coward. Meanwhile Denzel's character is drowning his guilt in alcohol, keeping away from his wife and kids and avoiding a Washington Post reporter who believes there was a cover up of the friendly fire. Denzel's character avoidance of what happened leads to him finding the truth of what happened with Ryan and her squad which becomes an obsession and is somehow tied to his own redemption. Unable to tolerate the cover-up of his own error, he puts his career on the line to prevent another cover-up.

Director Edward Zwick cleverly uses the "Rashomon Effect" where the same even is given contradictory interpretations by different individuals involved until the truth is revealed in the end. The movie is interesting where it is rare to find a film dealing with women in combat which deals with personal issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder and the correlation of the decisions made by a man who is leading his squad in war to a woman leading his squad in war while also comparing the squads behaviour of the decisions made. The movie itself films like a day time movie you can watch once and find it entertaining in some way where you acknowledge soldiers can made terrible decisions too, we are all humans but the movie contradicts itself by honouring the military, such as the melodramatic ending. It fails to comment on the dehumanising nature of war. Another issue I had was the miscast of Ryan, the film early on describes her as a Texan butch... her performance was good which included shouting orders with an interesting accent but ultimately couldn't see her in that role. Shout out to the uneasy interview between Washington and Damon, greatly staged and acted.

Overall 6.6.