Rescue Dawn (2006)

[Movie 157 / Day 170]


Rescue Dawn is based on the true story of Dieter Dengler, a German who moved to America in order to realise his dream of becoming a pilot. The quickest way he could do that was to sign up and become a fighter pilot. Set just before the Vietnam conflict, Dengler's first mission was to bomb part of the Ho Chi Minh trail. Forty minutes into that first flight, he was shot down, captured, and handed over to the Vietcong.

He's taken to a POW camp in the middle of the jungle and thrown in with six other captives, all of whom have been there for a long time (years, in some cases).

Dengler had a natural optimism and spirit that wouldn't be broken; before long he's planning his escape.

It's a good story, sympathetically told, well acted. Bale is very good as the ever-smiling Dengler; Zahn is brilliant as a fellow inmate who slowly loses his mind, his strength, and his will to live.

Enjoyable, even if it did feel quite slow in places.

My rating: 7.0 / 10
IMDB rating: 7.6 / 10
Running time: 126 mins
IMDB link

Terminator Salvation (2009)

[Movie 145 / Day 154]


I walked into the cinema to see Terminator Salvation expecting it to be a bit rubbish, possibly even worse than T3. Even the presence of Christian Bale and the awesome trailers that have been released didn't relieve me of a sense of foreboding. The reason for this is twofold. Firstly, it's directed by a man that calls himself 'McG'. Anyone that willingly calls themselves McG isn't someone to take seriously. Secondly, it's a 12A (PG-13 in the US) - and many an action franchise has been ruined by attempts to make them more family friendly (see Robocop 3 or Alien vs Predator for details).

Terminator Salvation manages to overcome both of these obstacles to be almost on a par with T2. It's really, really good. Dark, moody and with a decent storyline; the writers and, dare I say it, McG, are clearly fans of the original movies and researched them properly. There are loads and loads of references to the other movies, from the massively obvious ("I'll be back") to massively subtle (Kyle Reese uses a very similar weapon and wears very similar Nike's as he did in the first movie).

So, it's not only fun, it advances the storyline and puts the Terminator franchise back on track for further movies.

It is a bit of a shame that the filmmakers didn't make it an R and include some of the violence that is an inherent part of the other three; but really, it doesn't feel like it's missing too much.

Overall, I loved it.

My rating: 8.2 / 10
IMDB rating: 7.3 / 10
Running time: 115 mins
IMDB link