War, The (1994)

reviewed by
Michael J. Legeros

                                     THE WAR
                       A film review by Michael John Legeros
                        Copyright 1994 Michael John Legeros

Directed by Jon Avnet (FRIED GREEN TOMATOES) Written by Kathy McWorter Cast Elijah Wood, Kevin Costner, Mare Winningham, and Lexi Randall MPAA Rating PG-13 Running Time Approx. 120 minutes

==

Kevin Costner takes a surprise second billing in THE WAR, a heavy-handed "message movie" about a father trying to teach his son about the consequences of violent action. Though not quite as cloying as a rabid romance, this lead-footed film is still way too literal to be taken seriously.

The year is 1970, and Stu and Lidia Simmons (Wood and Randall) have just welcomed their dad Stephen (Costner) home from the war. He's wearing scars both inside and out, and he can't hold a job to save his life, but they still love him. They even stand by him when he acts nice to the Lipnickis--a pack of neighborhood children who don't like either of the Simmons kids. Said dislike leads to a turf war, which leads to fighting, which leads to [insert eye-rolling] a valuable lesson on tolerance and understanding.

     Sigh.

There's a pretty good story here, but you'd never know it by the way director Jon Avent literalizes every Important Idea in sight. Take the first flashback, where Stephen tries to tell his son about what happened in Vietnam. Instead of letting Costner chew on a meaty monologue--a la, say, Robert Shaw in JAWS--Avent cuts to an exploding jungle with bullets and bodies and all those things that have no place in a dialogue-driven drama.

And Avent does this over and over and over again, straight through the ending where the "big message" is symbolized by a battle over a treehouse (don't ask). Granted the whole thing is kinda cute--think APOCALYPSE NOW meets HOME ALONE meets LORD OF THE FLIES--but what's left over (in silly speeches) is pretty pathetic.

BOTTOM LINE:    Only slightly more subtle than the ouvre of Oliver
                Stone, THE WAR should score as a crowd-pleaser.
                If you can buy into it, bring a hankie.

Grade: C

--
Michael J. Legeros
Raleigh, North Carolina

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War, The (1994)

reviewed byMichael J. Legeros

reviewed by
Michael J. Legeros