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misfires with moral“Casualties of War,” starring Michael J. Fox and Sean Penn★★ VsBy KIMBERLY LINKYes, “Casualties of War” is another Vietnam movie.Why did director Brian De-Palma try to top such fine Vietnam films as “Platoon” and “Hamburger Hill?”Who knows? Maybe he wanted to demonstrate that Michael J. Fox could act in a gruesome drama.“Casualties of War” is gruesome. One might recall that De-Palma didn’t cover up any blood in his last outing, “The Untouchables.” This war film has plenty of bloodshed, almost more than the viewer can handle.The subject matter does leave the viewer wondering whetherthe film should have been made at all. Yes, our lead character (Fox) is faced with a moral dilemma. But the outcome of that dilemma doesn’t really help anyone in the end — except himself.The viewer is told in the opening credits that “Casualties of War” is based on an actual incident reported in the New Yorker in 1969. Perhaps De-Palma relates this information to prove that atrocities of this nature did indeed take place during the Vietnam conflict.Eriksson (Fox, the new daddy who is in the midst of filming “Back to the Future II and III”) is the “cherry,” the new guy.He’s only been “in country” three weeks and, much to the dismay of his fellow squad members, he’s actually polite to the Vietnamese people.In his first encounter with the enemy, Eriksson is saved from death by Sgt. Meserve (Sean Penn, Madonna’s former husband and star of such films as “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” and “Colors”), a hard-nosed, battle veteran who is finishing out his Army sentence — as is pal Brownie (Erik King).A relaxing afternoon in aVietnamese village turns tragic when Brownie is shot down by a sniper. Meserve and his followers, Clark (Don Harvey, who also appeared in DePalma’s “The Untouchables”) and Hatcher (Chicago native John C. Reilly in his screen debut), want revenge.Before the squad heads out on a reconnaissance mission,Meserve tells his men that they are going to take along some“portable R and R.” Erikssonthinks the sergeant is joking — until he witnesses the kidnapping of a Vietnamese girl (ThuyThu Le).Meserve, who continues to mentally decline after the death of Brownie, tells his men that each will be given a turn to rape the girl. Eriksson is outraged.He and newcomer Diaz (John Leguizamo) agree to stand up to Meserve. But Diaz crumblesunder the pressure. Eriksson stands alone in his battle to save the girl’s life.Later, when the squad returns to the base camp, Eriksson must decide whether to turn in the man who saved his life or try to forget the entire episode.All this sounds like “Casualties of War” would be mighty suspenseful. It isn’t. The viewer knows exactly what Eriksson is going to do. In addition, the ending is so incredibly anti-climactic that the viewer is left wondering why the film-makers felt compelled to make “Casualties of War” in the first place.Actually, the film would have been more interesting if Fox had portrayed the bad guy and Penn had been the good guy. That would have been something to write about. One expects Penn to be the bad guy and he does a fine job in the role. Fox puts in an OK performance as the squeaky clean “cherry,” but he shines in comedies — not war movies.DePalma, the Hitchcock rip-off artist who directed such films as “Carrie,” “Dressed to Kill” and “Body Double,” took his stars to Thailand to film “Casualties of War,” a story which was designed to relate the “moral ambiguity of war.”DePalma misfires in his attempt to tell a story with a message. He succeeds in bringing to the screen another Vietnam movie which spotlights a well-known fact: War is hell.Battle-hardened Sgt. Meserve (Sean Penn, left) and Pfc. Eriksson (Michael J. Fox) are locked in a moral battle in Brian DePalma's Vietnam War film, Casualties of War.
Newspaper Details
Calumet City Star
Calumet City, Illinois, US
Thu, Aug 24, 1989
Page 42
Full Page
Clipped by
Jon C.
NJ, USA 16 Jan 2020
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