Recap: Suddenly, a Korean platoon that went missing at R-Point, an island(?), suddenly starts to send radio messages requesting help. But the message also hints of a fateful end to the mission. A new mission is planned, a new platoon formed. And off they go to find out whatever happened at R-Point. The area should be clear of enemies, Vietcong, but the platoon takes fire on their way in. The ambusher turns out to be a lone girl, now fatally wounded, and a few long dead corpses. Soon thereafter the platoon encounters an inscription that tells the history of the place. Supposedly this is the site of an ancient massacre, on the inscription promises, that those who enters and has blood on their hands, will never leave. The platoon goes on though, and starts the search for the lost soldiers. But something is horribly wrong. And when one of the privates in the platoon turn up dead, and turns out to be one of the members of the lost platoon, all is horribly wrong.
Comments: The movie is clearly built up as horror-movie set in war. Yet there are no enemies. And even if the movie uses sound and music in an attempt to be scary, it fails miserably. First and foremost, there is a huge flaw in the story, In fact, the story is one enormous flaw in itself. It is extremely inconsistent, the whats and whys, if there ever was any (or if the director just wanted to play with some effects and thought that would be scary enough, this is my guess), is never told or revealed in the movie. In fact, there are strong hints that the officers know more than we or the privates do. My guess is that director hopes this will add to the mystery, but its just annoying as no new facts are ever revealed. The entire story seems to be a more or less random series of unexplained events.
Second greatest flaw. My experience from the military is not big. But how those soldiers, those officers got through kindergarten is beyond me. I've never seen a collection of so stupid, thick and dumb people on a movie before. A few examples; a) No one, including the officers, has any idea of how many or who is in their platoon. This is shown when no one reacts when people get lost and go missing, or when an extra soldier suddenly appears. In fact, the commanding officer orders a soldier that is not in his platoon, a soldier that is his mission to find, to stand guard! b) The soldiers are fighting among themselves all the time. A reason for a fight (when you stand guard) is that the other guard has a picture. c) The soldiers do not tell anyone when they notice someone go missing. This happens when the extra soldier disappears, and when one of the real soldiers run off into the forest at night. The guards only reaction, a shrug and a comment "well, there he goes." d) When searching for a missing soldier, some of them refuse because they don't "feel like" searching for a companion. Conclusion, those must be the worst soldiers ever.
In fact, the unexplained random effects, and the extremely stupid squad, stops any attempt of the movie at being scary. Mostly I felt annoyed at the bad story and the stupid squad, but sometimes one of them died, and I felt a little happy, because I knew the movie was closer to its end. Because in addition to being inconsistent, it is totally predictable. It is just a matter when they die.
The movie had one last chance at redeeming itself at the end, if it had presented some smart end, some twist that had explained what happened, and made the events understandable. But the movie showed, a little surprisingly, some consistency at last. Like all other parts, the end failed miserably as well.
To complete the failure, the movie shows some good footage, actually, but is poorly edited, and the characters show no development. The actors also contribute with a lot of bad acting.
Conclusion: An extremely bad, not scary, failed horror-movie full with questions and contradictions. Do not see. It is a complete waste of time.
2/10
Comments: The movie is clearly built up as horror-movie set in war. Yet there are no enemies. And even if the movie uses sound and music in an attempt to be scary, it fails miserably. First and foremost, there is a huge flaw in the story, In fact, the story is one enormous flaw in itself. It is extremely inconsistent, the whats and whys, if there ever was any (or if the director just wanted to play with some effects and thought that would be scary enough, this is my guess), is never told or revealed in the movie. In fact, there are strong hints that the officers know more than we or the privates do. My guess is that director hopes this will add to the mystery, but its just annoying as no new facts are ever revealed. The entire story seems to be a more or less random series of unexplained events.
Second greatest flaw. My experience from the military is not big. But how those soldiers, those officers got through kindergarten is beyond me. I've never seen a collection of so stupid, thick and dumb people on a movie before. A few examples; a) No one, including the officers, has any idea of how many or who is in their platoon. This is shown when no one reacts when people get lost and go missing, or when an extra soldier suddenly appears. In fact, the commanding officer orders a soldier that is not in his platoon, a soldier that is his mission to find, to stand guard! b) The soldiers are fighting among themselves all the time. A reason for a fight (when you stand guard) is that the other guard has a picture. c) The soldiers do not tell anyone when they notice someone go missing. This happens when the extra soldier disappears, and when one of the real soldiers run off into the forest at night. The guards only reaction, a shrug and a comment "well, there he goes." d) When searching for a missing soldier, some of them refuse because they don't "feel like" searching for a companion. Conclusion, those must be the worst soldiers ever.
In fact, the unexplained random effects, and the extremely stupid squad, stops any attempt of the movie at being scary. Mostly I felt annoyed at the bad story and the stupid squad, but sometimes one of them died, and I felt a little happy, because I knew the movie was closer to its end. Because in addition to being inconsistent, it is totally predictable. It is just a matter when they die.
The movie had one last chance at redeeming itself at the end, if it had presented some smart end, some twist that had explained what happened, and made the events understandable. But the movie showed, a little surprisingly, some consistency at last. Like all other parts, the end failed miserably as well.
To complete the failure, the movie shows some good footage, actually, but is poorly edited, and the characters show no development. The actors also contribute with a lot of bad acting.
Conclusion: An extremely bad, not scary, failed horror-movie full with questions and contradictions. Do not see. It is a complete waste of time.
2/10