"Empty what is full. Fill what is empty. Scratch what itches."
Rescue Dawn is an adventure/war/drama movie, and it's based on the experiences of a real life pilot whose plane was shot down near Laos during the early days of the Vietnam war. Christian Bale plays the lead role in this movie, and he does a great job of portraying how being lost in the jungle would wear a man down, both physically and mentally. The survival part is cool, although it's when he eventually gets caught by the vietnamese militia and ends up in a hostage camp where he meets other captives, both american and vietnamese, that the movie really starts to unfold and becomes something more than a "Tarzan has to survive in the jungle" kinda movie.
Rescue Dawn is an adventure/war/drama movie, and it's based on the experiences of a real life pilot whose plane was shot down near Laos during the early days of the Vietnam war. Christian Bale plays the lead role in this movie, and he does a great job of portraying how being lost in the jungle would wear a man down, both physically and mentally. The survival part is cool, although it's when he eventually gets caught by the vietnamese militia and ends up in a hostage camp where he meets other captives, both american and vietnamese, that the movie really starts to unfold and becomes something more than a "Tarzan has to survive in the jungle" kinda movie.
The first thing you notice about Rescue Dawn, is the fact that it's not filmed like a lot of other movies. You can tell that the director and the cinematographer made en effort of making the scenes where Dieter (Bale) is lost in the jungle and those where he is being held captive look like they were being shot with a handheld camera, and this really works to the films advantage. It gives these scenes a raw and intense touch, as if nothing is under control, and it gives the whole thing a strong, authentic feel. The fact that I felt as though someone was filming these events taking place in real life greatly increased my experience of watching this movie, and i got really invested in the story very early on. You did a good job cinematography guy, very good job.
One of the things that never ceases to amaze me, is how much effort and heart Christian Bale puts into his roles. He did 99 % of his stunts in this movie by himself, and I'm not gonna spoil any of them, but some of the shit that he does in this movie, I'm telling you, it's awe-inspiring. It's incredible how much this guy is willing to put his body through in order to make his characters seem more legitimate. For an example, he lost 55 pounds, about 25 KG, in order to sell the whole "being lost in the jungle for a long time"-element better, and that's not even the biggest weight change he has undergone in preparation for a movie role. Christian Bale is one of our time's most dedicated and talented method actors, and his performance in Rescue Dawn is just one the many that you can't help but admire.
When creating a movie that is based on a real historical event, it's important that you make your movie feel as realistic as possible, in order to convince the audience that what you're presenting them is fact-fiction, and not just regular fiction. The director did of cause take some autistic license in a few cases, but over all it did feel like I was watching a real event unfold int eh screen. Apart from the great way the movie was filmed, something i talked about earlier, the way the different characters react to certain events and become more and more affected by being held hostage works fine as well, but there were also times where i raised my eyebrows a tad. Some of the these were when the supposedly top trained military guys do something stupid and irrational while trying to survive in the jungle. At times it felt like they hadn't watched as much Extreme Survival with Bear Grylls as you'd expect marines to have seen.
All in all i can honestly say that Rescue Dawn was one of those movies that impressed me to the point where i would recommend other people to watch it, mainly because of Bale's acting and the realism that the movie displays. It does a great job of depicting how men in that situation would behave, but do keep in mind that it's based on a real story, and that there as a result of this won't be too many extravagant Hollywood special effects and fireworks present. The only real action scene is the one where Dieter's plane is shot down in the beginning of the movie, a scene that's featured in the trailer, a trailer that by the way spoils the best segment of the entire movie, so stay away from it of you don't like spoilers (!). This scene, and the other scenes that got my heart beating the fastest, actually had very little explosions and other "normally associated with action"-elements to them, something i appreciated immensely.
In conclusion, Rescue Dawn is a muddy and believable tale of a man who wouldn't give up hope of making it home alive, with a few scenes so intense that you'll find yourself sitting on the edge of your seat, heart a'beating, forehead a'sweating, and fists a'clenching. The movie has definitely earned my seal of approval, and who knows, if I were to stumble upon a bargain, I'll maybe even pick it up on BluRay as well. (4/6)
Rescue Dawn IMDb page here
Rescue Dawn trailer here
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