I’m reaching way back for this movie night. Way back to the year 1996 when Ebay was launched, Prince Charles and Princess Diana got divorced, and Wannabe by the Spice Girls was number 1 on the charts. On July 12 Denzel Washington and Meg Ryan starred in a movie called Courage Under Fire.
I know this movie is a drastic change from most of the other movies I talked about but I want to diversify the movies I talk about for this blog. Right now I’ve done one Sci-Fi Action film, two comedies, and one drama. Courage Under FIre is more of a military crime drama and it’s topic is pretty heavy so it’s not something you can just pop in and watch. It takes your full concentration but even so I hope you decide to give it a try. Here’s my review.
Meg Ryan plays Karen Walden, a chopper pilot who gets shot down in the middle of a war zone and unfortunately doesn’t survive the wait for the rescue chopper. Denzel Washington plays Nat Sterling, a former tank commander who is now a lawyer who is asked to investigate what happened to see if Walden deserves a Medal of Honor thus becoming the first woman Medal of Honor recipient. The cast was impressive and it’s hard to pick out who impressed me more. It’s hard, but not impossible. Meg Ryan impressed me the most in this film because she was able to tailor her performance to fit the changing story. As Sterling investigates the events of Walden’s chopper crash, the story changes and each time it’s told, Meg Ryan is able to show the difference in her performance. This especially impressed me since I’m used to her in a romantic comedy role which are all kind of samey. Denzel Washington comes up a very close second with his portrayal of a tortured solder and Matt Damon, always fantastic, is a 3rd as a young, gaunt, and nervous solder.
The other actors in the movie consist of Lou Diamond Phillips (Longmire, Young Guns) , Bronson Pinchot (Anyone remember Perfect Strangers?), Scott Glenn (Bourne Ultimatum, Training Day) and Michael Moriarty (Law & Order) and they all do a good job, but they just didn’t wow me was much as the others. They all helped the movie but were overshadowed by the others.
As Sterling investigates what happened when Walden’s chopper goes down the story changes. As the story changes we go back and rewatch the events as the current character is telling it.
At the end of the day this was a good military crime drama and the level of mystery was just right. I wasn’t able to guess how exactly it would turn out, nor did the ending come out of nowhere which would have been tremendously infuriating. Courage Under Fire had fantastic pacing and was able to weave together the three different stories while not losing focus on the main one. The movie also stays understandable which is key when you’re working with any subplots. Everything also felt resolved which was nice. Few things are worse than when a movie ends and part of the story is left open. If there’s going to be a sequel and the open story is part of the plot then it’s fine. Otherwise it’s sloppy planning and writing.
Courage Under Fire is an engaging, keeps you guessing, and even has quite a few action scenes. It was fun to watch from beginning to end but I do warn you, it’s not something you can just pop in at any time. You have to be ready to watch a serious movie. It’s not horribly dark, but it’s nothing to make light of.
Courage Under Fire gets a 8 out of 11