Bravo Two Zero Movie Review

They were an elite unit of the SAS, eight Brits sent behind enemy lines in Iraq to knock out Saddam Hussein's Scud missiles -- facing incredible odds, wearing 210-pound packs, out of touch with HQ, facing bad weather, going uphill both ways.

And I just can't bring myself to care.

Gulf War films have never been my bag (I'm even lukewarm on Three Kings), and Bravo Two Zero does little to change my opinion. Modern warfare just doesn't lend itself to great cinema. It's fought thousands of miles away, largely by computers. When we do see troops heading into battle (as in this film), they spend most of the time hiding. (Not that I blame them, that's what I'd do!) And in the downtime, there's plenty of witty soldier chatter -- at least, until they get captured. And tortured endlessly.

I don't want to diminish the heroics of the group and the horrors they suffered, but watching their actions play out on screen is about as thrilling as a game of T-ball played by six-year-olds. There's a lot of missed opportunities and fruitless hoping for a redo, and in the end everyone gets a trophy.