Movie Review: Rescue Dawn

The short of it: 4 of 8 Nations. Christian Bale gets 7 out of 8 Nations though.

The long of it:

Went and saw Rescue Dawn with my boy Rah-mawn last night, and before I get to the movie, I have to talk about the theater.

We chose the Cinema 1,2,3 because it was very close to work. Apparently it has some historical significance. Now, historically significant or not, the theater is such a P.O.S. now. The seats are old and worn and cramped, the carpets are stained, the concessson stands even by movie theater standards are horribly over priced. It looks like the kind of theater where one would watch porn. It seems that this theater has been in danger of being closed down by its owners every year or so, but it keeps on getting saved by activists and movie historians and what not (the Weinsteins being some of the said activists). I'm sorry, but these activists and what not should put their money where their mouths are and pay to renovate the place. Otherwise, let it die. It's just a sad place now.

Anyway, on to the movie. Don't watch this expecting high-end, high-budget Bridge On The River Kwai stuff. The effects or the action isn't the focus of this film; Christian Bale is and he comes through with flying colors yet again.

The movie, quite simply, was a vehicle for Christian Bale to show how good he is as an actor once again. Let's start with the physical aspect - the man gains and loses weight like nobody's business during filming in order to keep it as true as possible (besides Rescue Dawn, see The Machinist). The man is a master of accents - his character was born in Germany and moved to the States - and you get a little mixture of Euro and American in the accent that he employed. But what was most amazing about his portrayal of Dieter Dengler in the movie was this: in the face of danger, in the face of death, he always exuded the quiet confidence that he will live through it all even when things seemed hopeless. Whether he did this with a little smile as he delivered his lines, or just the delivery itself, you always got the feeling that he believed he was going to get past this and you couldn't help but feel that way too.

A special mention to Steve Zahn as well. I've always pictured him as the goofy guy from That Thing You Do!, but with this role, he showed so much more.

But go see this movie for Christian Bale's performance. He is just one of the best actors around right now. In fact, if you define "his generation" as actors (male, obviously, but let me just clarify that point to be sure), ages 30-40, he would be at or near the top of the list as being the best. Who could give him a run for his money? Off the top of my head - Ed Norton, Jr., Leo DiCaprio, Hugh Jackman, Terrence Howard, Benicio Del Toro, Javier Bardem, Paul Giamatti and Jude Law. Otherwise....