An interesting story, showing how a group of fairly sane soldiers can go downhill very quickly. The interesting thing is that there aren't really any actual antagonists, but through a series of accidents, coincidences, and past disputes, the squad tears itself apart.
Not the most original plot, I know. But the film manages to keep your attention well throughout, and the eerie setting and characterisation is excellent. The film was pretty low budget, and was shot on location in rough terrain and small, dilapidated, cramped rooms. The close shots and the sweat convey the tight overheated spaces well, contrasting with the howling wind and thick fog of the outside.
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| Gorillas in the mist. |
The characters are not looked to in depth. We are given almost no account of their histories, and so their personalities grow for us during the movie, through their actions. While they all seem to be the same basic person in the beginning, the defining characteristics of each becomes their faults, as this is how they help to break up the rest of the group, and it is this that the movie focuses on. The fact that they wear a uniform and their shaven hair both help this, as it makes them all look more alike. I could rarely tell several of them apart at all to begin with (the doctor, the main guy's "brother", and that other guy in particular) and the only four characters I could definately tell apart from the others were the Sergeant, the black guy, the native American guy and the gaunt looking main character. The heavy use of fog throughout helps the whole "can't tell them apart" thing too, and in one scene even plays an active role among the group to this effect.
Overall a somewhat understated and underrated tension flick (underrated compared to other more higher rated yet worse films, though I'm still not giving it as high marks as most popular review sites have).
The Squad: 43.9