Military Movie Reviews

But the film seems longer. Ooh, there are some cynics out there. The catapault was obviously hidden in pieces around the prison. Under pillows. In the latrine. Up the inmates left trouser legs. Up...other places. Behind the cigarette vending machine. Behind the poster of Rita Heyworth. Then they constructed it in er, a minute flat and er....

Will the Special Edition have an alternative ending? Redford winches up the American flag. Then after a minute they take it down and someone puts up the Iraqi flag. End titles. Arabic music. Like it, centurion?

basically because I like Mark Ruffalo and he's done some other brillant movies like XX/YY and My Life Without Me and so forth and that's why I viewed this and I liked it. Robert Redford and Gandolfini play a great game in this movie and Ruffalo is along for the ride. My favorite scene is when Ruffalo steals the helicopter and plows a guard with the end of it and blows a station up(a great action sequence). also I noted that there's a surprise actor named Steve Burton in this flick, who you may or may not know plays Jason on General Hospital. a must see for prison movie fans

The Last Castle rides high on a wave of American patriotism, respectful of military service and protocol, and primed to ignite anyone's passion for justice against corrupted ideals. This intense prison drama begins when a court-martialed three-star general (Robert Redford) is sentenced to military prison for defying a presidential command. The prison's warden (James Gandolfini) is a jealous martinet who's never seen combat, and when the jailed general seizes command of the prison to protest the warden's abuse of power, The Last Castle erupts toward a classic showdown between integrity and cowardice. This movie is very good and has a good cast to compliment the story line. Have fun watching it.

There's very good message in this film but the script is too simpel. The end isn't surprising. The actors are not so good. I wanted to stop this film many times because it was so boring.

I first saw this film in a theater on a double bill with Alan Parker's "Mississippi Burning." John Frankenheimer's "Dead Bang" is simply another forgettable action movie.

Cop Don Johnson goes after a group of neo-Nazis.

"Dead Bang" is one of Frankenheimer's more inferior movies. As a Frankenheimer film, "Dead Bang" isn't as poor as "99 and 44/100% Dead" and "The Holcroft Covenant" but that isn't saying a whole lot; Frankenheimer hasn't made one great movie since "Black Sunday." This film came out during the last season of Don Johnson's TV show "Miami Vice" and Johnson basically just plays Sonny Crockett on the big screen. "Dead Bang" has a few good action sequences but this one element can't save the film. The film isn't particularly exciting or interesting. In one particularly crude and unnecessary sequence, a cop is shown vomiting on a suspect.

Like William Friedkin and Brian DePalma, Frankenheimer is a once great director who lost his edge. I am sad that the director of such brilliant movies as "The Manchurian Candidate" and "The Birdman of Alcatraz" has fallen to making crass movies like "Dead Bang."

"Dead Bang" is nothing more than a foul-mouthed and forgettable action movie. The film is only for big Don Johnson fans and those who merely want to see violent action.

YOU REALLY HAVE TO SEE A MOVIE LIKE THIS TO GET A GLIMPSE OF WHAT SOME 'REAL COPS' GO THROUGH. ALTHOUGH DRAMATIZED, THE BASIS FOR THIS FLICK IS THE REAL LIFE EXPLIOTS OF L.A. COUNTY SHERIFFS HOMICE INVESTIGATOR JEROME BECK.

IT IS A RIVETING CHARACTER STUDY OF WHAT THIS JOB CAN DO TO A MAN, HIS MARRIAGE, HIS KIDS AND HIS PSYCHE.

DON JOHNSON DOES AN EXCELLENT JOB OF PLAYING THE MORBID, BURNT OUT COP ON THE EDGE. HE'S DRINKING EXCESSIVELY, GOING THROUGH A BITTER CUSTODY BATTLE WITH HIS EX, LIVING IN A DUMP AND BREAKING EVERY RULE IN THE BOOK TO GET A NEO-NAZI MANIAC WHO KILLED A DISTANT POLICE CAMPADRE.

THE ONE OBVIOUS FLAW IN THE FILM IS THE TOTALLY PROCEDURALLY INCORRECT WAY THE VICTIM OFFICER APPROACHES AN ARMED ROBBERY/MURDER SUSPECT. ANY REAL COP WATCHING THE SHOW WILL BE TEMPTED TO HIT THE 'STOP' BUTTON ON THE V.C.R. THERE. BUT IF YOU CAN WADE PAST THIS NONSESICAL SCENE ITS A PRETTY DECENT FLICK.

JOHNSON SHINES IN A MEMORABLE SCENE WHERE HE IS ORDERED TO UNDERGO PSYCHOLOGICAL COUSELING DUE TO HIS ERRATIC BEHAVIOUR.
AS THE PENCIL NECKED ANALYST'S EGO IS STEPPED ON HE PREPARES TO END THE SESSION 'RUSHING TO JUDGEMENT' ON THE VETERAN OFFICER'S
MENTAL STATE. JOHNSON'S 'BECK' USES SOME PURSUASIVE PSYCO BABBLE OF HIS OWN TO DETER THE COUSELOR FROM ENDING HIS 'BECKS' CAREER.
IT IS A GREAT SCENE AND THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE FILM.

THE THING THAT MAKES THIS CHARACTER DIFFERENT FROM 'SONNY CROCKETT' OR 'NASH BRIDGES' IS THE REALNESS OF THE GUY. HE DOESNT SPOUT POLITICALLY CORRECT ONE LINERS. HE DOESNT WEAR FASHIONS THAT NO REAL COP COULD EVER AFFORD, AND HIS LIFE IS THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF GLAMOROUS.

CRITICS AND AUDIENCES ALIKE WERE QUICK TO LAMBAST THIS MOVIE WHEN IT PREMEIRED IN EARLY 1989 BECAUSE IT DOESNT HAVE A SUPER HERO MAIN CHARACTER WHO JUMPS OFF OF BUILDINGS OR DRIVES A FLASHY CAR. AND THAT IS JUST THE REASON IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN PRAISED. IT HAD THE GUTS TO BE DIFFERENT!

THE ACTION SCENES ARE WELL ORCHESTRATED WITH JOHNSON ACTUALLY LOOKING 'PUMPED' AS HE ATTEMPTS TO SURVIVE THE SHOOTOUTS.

NO, 'DEAD BANG' IS NOT A TIMELESS CLASSIC, BUT IT WORKS WELL AS A DRAMATIC ACTION PLAY WITH A FLAWED BUT VERY INTERESTING PROTAGONIST.

I would like to add that a lot of this footage repeats, and it is sometimes put together in nonsensical ways. For example, modern footage may be shown of a plane firing a missile and then it cuts to 1970's footage of a tank exploding. Don't buy this. Try the 'Challenge of Flight' DVDs.

As a member of the Northern California Chapter of the American Aviation Historical Society and an avid collector of aviation videos, laserdiscs & DVDs I was eagerly awaiting this release. However, I found myself disappointed after screening it. While, technically well mastered, without any apparent digital artifacts, from different types of film and video stock, the contents of this DVD leave a lot to be desired. Featuring footage from the 1920s through the 1990s, many of the scenes have been in earlier compilations, i.e. The Challenge Of Flight series. A further drawback is the almost complete lack of aircraft identification and the circumstances under which these mishaps occured. And actually, a good part of the footage is not Military Air Disasters but gun camera footage and stock footage of normal air operations. Now, some of the footage is very good. The mishaps that occur during ordnance drops was fascinating but too brief and without identification. The DVD bonus features include 2 screens describing the F-16 and the F-14 and a very brief slide show of aircraft, some of which are not featured in the main body of the DVD. The cover shows an F-16 exploding in a fireball. This scene is not on the DVD. The potential for an interesting and stimulating DVD on this subject is out there. This DVD misses the target.