Christian Bale is what is known as "An Actors actor." He is a method actor who goes to great lengths to make everything seem real. he unafraid to lose a grotesque amount of weight or gain it back depending on the role. He spends months training an preparing for whatever role comes his way and without fail, he is brilliant. He is just at ease filling the bat suit as he is doing some small indie film. His American accent is nearly flawless and he brings something interesting to every single role, even if the movie isn't very good. At times it is enough that the movie stars Christian Bale, to make it a good movie. So, I was intrigued to see what he would do with a movie that is a survival film because survival films are often long, boring and repetitive.
This movie is based on the true story of Air Force officer Dieter Dangler (Bale), a German born American bred man who is doing his first tour of duty in the Vietnam conflict. In his first assignment he is shot down and eventually captured by the Viet-kong. He spent a great deal of time in a prison like village, being subjected to all kinds of torture and starvation. He meets a group of people who have been in this prison for about 2 years and decides his fate will not be decided by the enemy. He figures out a plan to escape and he and the other prisoners escape and he and his best friend in prison, Duane Martin (Steve Zahn)spent some more time out int he jungle attempting to survive and find a way to be rescued. That is pretty much the entire movie, but the movie lasts an unnecessary two hours.
Like Castaway or any other survival film, this movie drags because there is only so much one can do in the wild with no one else around. Bale manages to hold our interest but with the typical scene lasting only about 3 minutes before cutting to some other typical jungle survival tactic, it doesn't seem like we get enough time to watch Bale work his acting magic. He does play Dangler differently than I think many would have. Bale gives Dangler an overwhelming amount of optimism and even finds a way to bring a sense of joy even while being tortured. The torture scenes are difficult to watch and really give us a sense that nothing good can come from this. Watching Bale's physical appearance change so rapidly is another testament to what he is willing to do to make a role feel authentic and when we watch him pull leeches off his bare bones body, it is impossible not to feel something for him. Steve Zahn brings a bit of his comic persona to his role, but also does a pretty good job of making us take him seriously as a prisoner who had given up hope until Dangler came along.
The camera work is well done as the camera dips and weaves through tall grass and hanging vines but for all the gorgeous shots, the movie is still about 20 minutes longer than it needed to be. However, often times survival films give us a weak epilogue but the epilogue here is perfectly done and is one of the better moments in the film. Bale does his best to make this a great film but it never gets there. I was checking my watch with about a half hour left and was hoping it would end very soon. The release of this film in the middle of summer will not help its chances come awards season, but I would not be surprised if Bale gets himself some nominations from this movie.
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