Rescue Dawn

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Starring: Christian Bale
Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Type: DVD
Directed By: Werner Herzog
Studio: MGM Home Entertainment
Release Date: 2007-11-20
Running Time: 125 minutes
Real-life story of a US fighter pilot Dengler, shot down and captured during the Vietnam War. Christian Bale as Dengler, plans a death-defying escape.

Good story; Bad Movie
The story this is based upon is great, and in fact demands a movie be made...but then...they made this movie. I am a Bale fan, so when the dialogue sucked, that was not good news for Bale. Worse, Bale has to give the character some character...expressions, accent, etc, which was really awful. Just looks like he is overacting. Zahn is great.

It's too bad that such a courageous story got this crappily executed film. There's a reason you hadn't heard of this Christian Bale film...

Rescue Dawn
Very good movie. Quite a story and Christain Bale is such a great actor to play this part in it.

Surprisingly decent
You probably won't remember this movie the week after next, but as you watch it, it's fine entertainment, based, as noted, on a true POW story. The actors are uniformly good, and the script, even if you've seen things like it before - "The Deer Hunter" - is intelligent. The suspense works well, and the jungle scenery is fascinating. I expected a loud shoot-em-up based on the dvd cover, and was pleasantly surprised to encounter more of a psychological survival tale. It was filmed from ending to beginning, so the actors could start out emaciated, and gradually regain weight. Watch it.

Visually arresting, but a forgettable film.
This movie was specifically requested by my brother as the film upon which we would build our Blu-Ray collection. We watched it the first night we had gotten our Playstation 3 and HDMI cable. That was also the last time we watched it.

Visually, we couldn't have picked a better movie to inaugurate ourselves into the world of Hi-Def films. Herzog's cinematography is exceptional. The colors and details are so arresting and intense that, honestly, it is almost overwhelming for a moment. Unfortunately, the sightseeing doesn't get to last very long, as once Christian Bale's Deiter Dengler gets captured, the tone shifts visually to the muddy prison camp for much of the rest of the film.

I wish I had more to say about this movie, but unfortunately there's not much more to say: Christian Bale's performance is engaging, but on par with what we'd expect from him. The real star performance comes from Steve Zahn, who finally reveals that he can act. He performs well beyond what one would expect from the guy that starred opposite Jack Black in Saving Silverman, and if I had to pick one real reason for seeing this movie, it would be his performace. Ultimately, though, the plot drags through most of the second act, and while it's not a bad film by any stretch of the term, it's just not a movie I've had a strong desire to watch again.

I would say that fans of Christian Bale should get this movie, but if you are a big Bale fan, you probably already have it.

Not that good
My wife and I watched this movie but it wasn't that good at all. The seller sent it to us very fast, but after watching the movie I wouldn't watch it again.