I went to see this flick with great trepidation. I assumed – given the current state of the world and Hollywood’s over-inflated self importance regarding said state – that this would be Clint Eastwood’s contribution to the noble self-aggrandizement of the celebrity anti-war movement. I didn’t think much of Flags of our Fathers and I was afraid this would be even worse.
Instead it turned out to be the best war film since Saving Private Ryan. There’s nothing here making the Japanese heroes or the Americans naive barbarians. No long, introspective sequences musing on the futility of war. It’s very matter-of-fact, in your face kind of film and well worth seeing. The scenes offering a glimpse into the American way of making war in 1945 is alone worth the price of admission.