Bravo Two Zero - Movie Review

Rating: 2 out of 5

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.

Facts and Figures

Year: 1999

Run time: 115 mins

In Theaters: Tuesday 15th June 1999

Distributed by: Miramax

Reviews

Contactmusic.com: 2 / 5

IMDB: 6.9 / 10

Cast & Crew

Director: Tom Clegg

Producer: Ruth Caleb, Anant Singh

Screenwriter: Troy Kennedy-Martin

Starring: Sean Bean as Andy McNab, Steve Nicholson as Dinger, Rick Warden as Tony, Robert Hobbs as Stan, Richard Graham as Mark, Ian Curtis as Baz, Jamie Bartlett as Ray

Also starring: Steve Nicolson, Robert Whitehead, Ruth Caleb, Anant Singh, Troy Kennedy-Martin