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Home of the
Brave
War is hell, but life after
can be even tougher. Such is the focus of (longtime Rocky producer) Irwin
Winkler’s harrowing, yet oft contrived melodrama about four enlistees from Seattle returning home. For most of their Gulf War tour,
they’ve been in support roles. That is until a last mission takes them “beyond
the fence.” The result is disastrous. Vanessa (Jessica Biel)
loses an arm and struggles as a single mother with a needy boyfriend. Jamal
(rapper 50 Cent) is consumed by anger and the most maladjusted of the lot.
Tommy (Brian Presley) loses his best friend in combat and his job back home.
And surgeon Will Marsh (Samuel L. Jackson) tries to shut out his family and
the war by drinking 24/7. The performers work effusively to get inside the
skin of their characters, and while there are some piquant politics versus
personal belief moments, the film never grips the material with the poignancy
of such masterworks as The Best Years
of Our Lives or Coming Home.
- TBM
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