Pew Reviews
Assorted

Seven English pensioners, whose living circumstances have changed, are captivated by an advertisement that offers each of them money-saving possibilities in Jairpur, India, in a retirement hotel “for the elderly and beautiful.” The colorful travel brochure and the idea of being able to afford decent late-life benefits in the way of housing, food, medicine, and a social and cultural life is made enticing by the picturesque Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, recently renovated.

Each of the seven seniors has their particular stories and their obvious British characteristics, peculiar attitudes, prejudices, and behaviors in a country new to them, with the exception of a retired high-court judge who was raised in India as a boy.

To avoiding giving away too much of this delightful tale, superbly acted, I would like to comment on one scene and its apparent implication. There are other scenes having to do with the caste system, racial tension, and blatant snobbery, which you may see and react to without editorial comment here.

Imagine a majestic egret standing in marshland and tall grass. Not far from the egret is a tired, contented, peaceful high-court judge, whose reasons for going to India are a serious part of his story. He has had a powerful and joyful outcome to his quest. Now he is sitting in a bamboo swing under a banyan tree. The audience is not aware that he has come to India to die. His chin slowly rests on his chest. The egret lifts its beak from the water, gazes around, and stretches its wings. It rises into the air, moves above the trees, and turns gracefully into open space under a stunning blue sky.

The scene implies the movement of the soul. The director could not have made the union between the judge's personal peace and his death more satisfying to all who longed for his story to have a good ending. It has become a common practice at graveside funerals to release white pigeons into the air at the conclusion of a committal service. Cultures have strange ways of replicating movement of the spirit.

We have in the Episcopal Church an evening prayer (BCP p.833) that incorporates these words: "and grant us a safe lodging, a holy rest and peace at the last." This petition is portrayed as fulfilled in this flight of the egret.

You can watch the movie trailer (with egret) here.

The Rev. Philip H. Whitehead is a priest of the diocese who,
prior to his retirement, served as rector of St. Michael & All Angels'
in Columbia. Known to SSSJ as a favorite supply priest,
he has long been interested in theology and film.
Many thanks to Philip+ for enriching our e-zine! 

©  2012 Philip H. Whitehead

Hard to pare down my favorite inspirational movies, so I selected three of during this phase of my life. They are Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Brian’s Song, and The Express.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is a classic film that explores the dynamics of Black/White relationships as well as familial ties. This movie to me is similar to the parables . . . place oneself in any of the characters . . . for a different perspective.

Both Brian’s Song and The Express are football-themed movies (enjoy football movies and books). Brian’s Song is a movie also about Black/White relationships and Brian’s death to cancer within the context of the Chicago Bears. Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers had an uncanny relationship. Brian was funny, a go-happy person, while Gale was shy and reserved, yet they "clicked" to become friends, both on and off the field.

The Express is the story of the first Black Heisman Trophy Winner, Ernie Davis. His life is chronicled in his standing firm against all odds, to sign a contract with the Cleveland Browns. However, Ernie didn’t get a chance to fulfill his dream to play a professional NFL game; he succumbed to leukemia.

Even though these are three different movies, their common themes are relationships and facing the odds. Live a life fulfilled with friends, welcome them to "dinner"—whatever that dinner may become. For me, dinner is the welcoming presence of a women priest. Dinner is watching college and NFL football with friends. Dinner is wherever my friends are whom I have met over the years. What is dinner for you?

©  2012 Annette Bethel

I saw Chariots of Fire at the theatre in 1981 and was struck by its powerful message. Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian, was on the 1924 British Olympic team, competing in the 100-meter race in Paris. When he found out the qualifying heats were to be run on a Sunday, he withdrew, despite the strenuous objections of team officials. Liddell was adamant that Sunday was for honoring God, not for personal gain. This movie, based on a true story, won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1981. It conveyed to me how incredibly strong faith in God can be. 

©  2012 David Law 

Defending Your Life was released in 1991 and was written by and starring Albert Brooks, who plays a shallow yuppie named Daniel Miller. Miller dies in a car accident and finds himself in Judgment City, a kind of waiting area for the recently deceased. He learns that everyone who dies must undergo a judgment process to determine whether he is ready to go forward to the next higher level of existence or sent back to earth for a "do-over." He may present any three events in his life to show that he has developed the strength of character to move to the next higher plane.

The film explores many different spiritual themes including life after death, judgment and salvation. But perhaps the most interesting idea of the movie is how faith and fear play out in our lives. Daniel develops a relationship with Julia (played by Meryl Streep), who is also presenting her life for judgment. While they enjoy each other's company very much, he soon learns that they came from very different emotional places in life. Julia is a confident woman, a woman of faith if you will, whose judgment proceeding is filled with examples of her compassion, courage, and love. Like the woman who boldly reached out to touch the hem of Jesus' garment and was healed (Mark 5:25-34), Julia grabbed for all that life (and God) had to offer. Meanwhile, Daniel lived a life of fear, insecurity, and doubt. In one scene, Daniel's advocate, played by Rip Torn, explains, "Your life has pretty much been devoted to dealing with fear. . . . Everybody on Earth deals with fear . . . Fear is like a giant fog. It sits on your brain and blocks everything—real feelings, true happiness, real joy. They can't get through that fog. But you lift it, and buddy, you're in for the ride of your life."

Both Groundhog Day and Defending Your Life explore questions that are larger than we typically expect in summer movies. One considers how our lives derive meaning from what we put into our relationship with our fellow human beings. The other explores how our lives are might be different if we but had the faith of a mustard seed. Together, they demonstrate that sometimes a box of popcorn and good movie might—just might—be better than listening to one of my sermons.

Other movie suggestions (Note: not all are suitable for young people)

Gran Torino—Clint Eastwood looks at atonement and redemption through the eyes of a bitter bigot and his Asian neighbors. [Read the review here.]

2001: A Space Odyssey—Mankind's destiny fulfilled as an astronaut pursues the Beatific Vision.

The Shawshank Redemption—An innocent man finds redemption and fills the prison with hope while serving hard time. [Read the review here.]

Signs—Mel Gibson plays an Episcopal priest who loses his faith when his wife dies, only to find it again when space aliens invade his corn field.

©  2012 Mark A. Abdelnour

Eat, Pray, Love reminded me that it is never too late to explore your spirituality. It showed the interconnectedness of the human community.

©  2012 Sharon Seago

Groundhog Day was released in 1993 and has become one of the most popular comedies of the past 30 years. Bill Murray plays an egotistical television news personality named Phil Connors, who is assigned to cover the annual Groundhog Day festivities in Punxsutawney, Pa. Phil is a bored, self-absorbed, and conniving individual who lives from day to day with absolutely no concern for God or his fellow human beings. As far as Phil is concerned, life is simply about getting ahead. He is accompanied by his producer, Rita, played by Andie MacDowell (a real-life Episcopalian who was taught Sunday School by our own Anita Stuart in Gaffney, S.C.). After filming an interview with the mayor of Punxsutawney, Phil has to stay the night in town because of a freak blizzard. When he awakes the next morning, he discovers that he is forced to relive the exact same day all over again. No matter what Phil does during the day, he wakes up the next morning hearing the same music, seeing the same people, avoiding the same potholes, over and over again. In a sense, Phil has been condemned to Purgatory in Punxsutawney.

Phil's initial response to this strange turn of events is to take advantage of his situation every way he can. He robs an armored car, indulges in eating unhealthy food, drives too fast, gets into fights, and seduces women. After all, if every day is exactly the same, if there is no such thing as tomorrow, then there are no consequences for our actions. But over time (we have no idea how much time. One year? A thousand years?), he begins to realize that what matters in life is not what we get out of it, but what we put into it. Soon he is reading poetry, taking piano lessons, and becoming something of a local hero. Still, nothing changes. Each day is exactly like the day before it. It is only when Phil sets aside his own self-interest, and gets to know Rita, that he and the world around him are transformed.

©  2012 Mark A. Abdelnour

When members of the Osage tribe in the United States begin dying mysteriously during the 1920s, it takes the newly-formed FBI to solve a case of greed, corruption, and murder. 

Martin Scorsese makes big films about stories and characters who do not fit neatly into the one-size-fits-all-and-guarantees-box-office proportions Hollywood prefers. That he is so good at it enables him to keep bringing these stores to life for us. His latest film, "Killers of the Flower Moon," from the excellent book by David Grann, is a testament to the Old Master, at the top of his game at 80 years old. Certainly, this aging reviewer appreciates the thoughtfulness Scorsese brings to this epic, terrible, uniquely American story. 

Prior to the discovery of oil on the Osage land in Oklahoma, through the clever negotiations of one of their chiefs, the Osage population were granted “headrights” to tribal members, retaining the rights to what was beneath the land.  When oil was discovered, the Osage became wealthy overnight. Using the laws of the time, white people quickly found ways to cheat the Osage out of their wealth, through “Guardianships” which had the Osage begging white guardians for their own money, higher pricing structures for goods bought by the Osage, and finally, outright murder. 

While Scorsese is known for violent films like "Good Fellas", "Taxi Driver", and "Raging Bull", he also brought to life a lavish telling of Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence. Here, Scorsese presents us the Oklahoma Oil Boom of the 1920s frankly, unafraid of its beauty, or its horror. 

There is violence—this is a story of murder for profit. But much of the violence is quiet, insidious: poison, disguised as a “wasting disease,” odd accidents never investigated, a seeming epidemic of “diabetes”. 

A quiet bass note thrumming in the soundtrack of quiet scenes raises tension during moments that might at first seem innocuous, such as when the  malevolent William Hale (Robert DeNiro) charms and bullies his somewhat dim nephew, Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) into doing his bidding. Exhorting Burkhart to call him, “King,” Hale talks Ernest into marrying a lovely young Osage woman, Molly Kyle (the riveting Lily Gladstone), for the valuable oil rights she holds as a member of the tribe; Ernest is more than willing—he’s admittedly lazy, Molly is wealthy, attractive, and he genuinely cares for her. Molly finds him handsome, kind, and likes his blue eyes.

Working with the Osage, Scorsese re-wrote his first script to center the story as the book does, with Molly and her family. In fairly rapid succession, Molly loses her sisters and mother, then begins wasting away herself, despite Ernest’s “care” of her. Feeling time is running out, she appeals to Washington, DC, for help in solving the crimes happening only to the Osage. 

Having read the book, I knew what to expect yet never found the film boring or long, even given the 3-hour, 27-minute run time. The performances are all fantastic, but even beside masters of their craft such as DeNiro and DiCaprio, this is newcomer Lily Gladstone’s movie. She grounds us, giving us a whole world behind her quiet eyes. 

Scorsese uses great restraint during the law-enforcement or, the reckoning portion, if you will. There are no big shootouts or chases, just good detective work over the last 40 minutes or so, capably propelled by a stoic, watchful Jesse Plemons as Tom White, an Agent with the newly-created Bureau of Investigations (the precursor to the FBI). Once outside lawmen begin investigating, the lasso of the law quickly encircles the guilty, even the unrepentant-to-the-end, William “King of the Osage” Hale.

There are joyous scenes of weddings and baptisms mixing Native American and Christian customs, lovely shots of  Molly saying her morning prayers by a river, and a sweet scene during a thunderstorm with Molly insisting to Ernest, “This storm is strong, so we need to be quiet now,” and finally, “you talk too much.” 

My only caution to the film is this: as one who read the book, even knowing what was coming, who, and why, wasn’t preparation for the enormity of it. One can put the book down for a bit, and process the information. Having it wash over oneself in one sitting can be . . . hard. It hurts the heart, as it should. 

Filmed in Oklahoma, with glorious cinematography and an outstanding soundtrack by Robbie Robertson, Killers of the Flower Moon is an epic tale of gross injustice. There is profanity, smoking, scenes of drunkenness, and some physical violence and gore. Not a film for young children, but a must for adults.

©  2023 Carole A. Reardon

One movie that has had a profound effect on me is Martin Scorsese's 1989 film adaptation of The Last Temptation of Christ. I saw it in the early 1990s, when I was an Education for Ministry (EFM) student figuring out just exactly what being a Christian meant for me. The film (like Nikos Kazantzakis' novel of the same title) was highly controversial—banned, in fact, in many cities across the U.S., and still blacklisted today in some places across the globe. In it, Jesus, tempted by Satan, experiences an alternate reality in which he comes down from the cross, marries Mary Magdalene, has children, and lives out his life as a full mortal man.

Not one to be a spoiler, I won't reveal the twists and turns that get one to the film's end. Suffice it to say that, despite the unorthodox aspects of this portrayal of Jesus—of which we are forewarned by the film's disclaimer that it departs from the biblical account of Jesus' life and is not based on the Gospels—the finale returns to the orthodox mode: Jesus dies on the cross as the savior of humankind.

For me, what is powerful in the extreme about this film is the window it opens onto the full humanity of the Lord, onto the precious and sacred nature of a fully human life, and onto the often agonizing exigencies of choosing to accept what one knows, deep in one's being, to be a fully divine call.

It's probably not a movie for everyone, but it changed my frame of reference, once and for all.

©  2012 Peggy Hill

The film that has most affected my spiritual life is the controversial 1979 British film Life of Brian, voted in several critics’ polls “the funniest movie of all time.”

In the film, some of the humor lies in the misinterpretation by Jesus’ contemporaries of the words and actions of the Jesus character. My favorite scene is at the Sermon on the Mount, when several onlookers in the back of the crowd can’t clearly hear Jesus’ words. One onlooker asks another: “Did he say ‘Blessed are the cheesemakers’? What’s so bloody special about the cheesemakers?” The other—a pedantic type I’m very familiar with from my career in academe—responds: “I believe he’s referring to all purveyors of dairy products.”

I try to think of this scene when confronted by what are portrayed in mainstream media as “Christian values,” often expressions of simple bigotry or reactionary conservatism that are totally at variance with the radical love of the Jesus I find in the Gospels. When I despair at how “Christians” and organized religion have garbled the message of Jesus, and think about abandoning the faith altogether, I remember the “cheesemakers” and understand that His message was clear when he spoke it and lived it, and it is not His fault that we still can’t hear it clearly. And when I own this thought, I’m back in the choir loft the next Sunday.

©  2012 David Hill

Most recently Mamma Mia has influenced me. It shows a woman who has settled into a “ho-hum” life and is no longer concerned with her own happiness. The basic story is about a mom who has given up on herself but finally realizes that there's more to life than what she has accepted. The music is all ABBA songs. I’ve always loved "Dancing Queen." I can relate to the mom because as my children are growing up, I've had to rediscover my own dreams. I now see that I still have a lot to look forward to. 

©  2012 Julie Phillips

Teaser: Based closely on the book A Man Called Ove by Frederick Backman, the story follows an aging man who struggles with the death of his wife and loss of purpose in his life. Otto, a somewhat unlikeable and rigid person played by the exceptional actor Tom Hanks, attempts suicide several times but is always interrupted by circumstances and by people who interfere with their individual concerns, a need for him in their lives, and simple love for him as a person. The film is a tragi-comedy that confronts the reality of grief and depicts the value of continuing to lead our lives. Ultimately Otto is happily redeemed and restored. 

Review: The obvious moral is that every life has value to the world and to the others around us, but there is also a reflection of repentance, resurrection, and redemption. The frank portrayal of suicide is mixed, somewhat uncomfortably, with comic irony but serves to make us aware of the hidden pain of its victims. Moreover the story highlights the deep needs and suffering of those around us which may be calling us to act even as we are unaware that these exist and as we may attempt to ignore their voice. This was a well-told, engaging story about the value of our lives and of the need to be alive in the world. I enjoyed the movie and recommend it highly for adults and teens but would be hesitant to have children watch it.

©  2023 Ken Armstrong

The film that has had the biggest impact on my spiritual life is Of Gods and Men, a French film released in 2010. It tells the true story of the seven Trappist monks who lived at the tiny monastery at Tibhirine in the Atlas Mountains in Algeria. They lived an austere life devoted to study, prayer, work, and service. They participated fully in the life of their Muslim Algerian neighbors, making and selling honey in the village market, celebrating with them, and offering medical care to anyone who needed it, even to one of the Islamic terrorists who were waging war against the government. Even after the Islamist terrorists murdered a crew of foreign workers two miles from the monastery, the monks refused the government’s offers to protect them because they were dedicated to continuing their service to the village and to Christ. They struggled with their fears and with each other about what they should do but ultimately decided to stay. During the night of March 26, 1996, the terrorists kidnapped them, and their bodies were found on May 21.

This synopsis doesn’t begin to illustrate how beautiful and inspiring the film is. Suffused with the gorgeous light and landscapes of nature, the cinematography alone is a work of art. Above all, the film radiates the love and joy at the heart of life in Christ. These men were humble, loving heroes who lived out what we are all called to believe.

©  2012 Nancy Lane

Teaser: The real story of Prometheus is what happens after he gave Mankind fire

Review: Christopher Nolan makes beautiful, complex films, populated with beautiful, talented actors: Intersteller; Dunkirk; The Dark Knight trilogy; Inception; Tenet. Oppenheimer is no less well-crafted, lush, and compellingly acted, yet I walked away wondering just what I was to make of the man it sought to explain?

Having reduced an already-slender frame to near emaciation, Irish actor Cillian Murphy inhabits the title role entirely, all piercing eyes, sculpted cheekbones, and single-minded determination. In an interesting twist, many flash-back scenes are shot in vivid color, the better for Nolan to show up those oceanic eyes afire with the promise of Science, while later scenes, the cautionary portion of the Prometheus mythology, is shot in a muted, lifeless palette, even as Oppenheimer seems to fade.

The source material for Nolan’s film is biography American Prometheus, by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, and if you know the Greek myth it is sadly apt. Oppenheimer is so utterly focused on his pet project all else falls by the wayside. He dismisses friends’ attempts to dissuade him from socialist and communist circles—he’s no true believer and can’t imagine why such would ever get in his way, even when they do, and even later when they completely upend his career, with the ascent to power of one Joseph McCarthy, and the House Unamerican Activities Committee.

Marriages, friendships, children, and professional alliances fall to Oppenheimer’s relentless pursuit of his muse. Nolan sometimes fills the air around Murphy with ghostly calculations and numbers, and we understand regardless of the conversation in which he is currently engaged, Oppenheimer is not really there. He’s at the endless blackboard in his head, always working. Far from perfect, he never claims to be, and he is in some ways so ethical it costs him both professionally and personally. Women love him, men are impressed by him, but most come to find all else comes second to The Work.

The test itself is somewhat anticlimactic. [We paid to see it on IMAX and I don’t know that the extra expense made a difference.]

Once Mankind has Fire, what happens to Prometheus after becomes the story. Seemingly subsisting on alcohol, cigarettes, and force of will, Oppenheimer realizes his dream and then seems astonished when his friend and the source of his funding, General Leslie Groves, explains that though the war in Germany is at an end, they very much intend to take his science and make some really big bombs. 

Oppenheimer, never seeming to intend offense, nonetheless has stepped on many toes, and the last portion of the film is what happens when small, mediocre men become screaming eagles, intent upon picking out his liver, or in modern  terms, destroying his name and reputation. 

Few come to his defense, but two who do stand out (a bit of a spoiler alert!): his wife Kitty (played with sly wit by an under-utilized Emily Blunt), who verbally shreds a member of the HUAC who has woefully underestimated her, and one David L. Hill (Rami Malek), a younger Manhattan Project astrophysicist well-placed to see the petty machinations calculated to bring down Oppenheimer, ethical enough to come publicly to the rescue. It ends the film on a less-melancholy note than it might have, because in the end, I’m not entirely sure what to make of the whole. It was interesting, beautifully crafted, and with a run time of 180 minutes, it is never boring, yet one felt there was more that could have been explored. 

Rated R for language, alcohol and tobacco use, a suicide, and two rather uninspiring sex scenes. [I wondered fleetingly how he managed to make two such lovely people unsexy?] But for parents, the scenes are not terribly informative and somewhat inappropriate for young children. There is also a questionable suicide and some obvious references to mental health issues untreated, or treated with what to modern eyes looks like cruelty.

This is Cillian Muphy’s film, and he does not disappoint—one cannot take eyes off him, and he brings humanity to an oft-times thoughtless and arrogant man. Emily Blunt is excellent for the few moments she’s on screen. With stand-out performances by Florence Pugh, Robert Downey, Jr., Josh Hartnett, and Jason Clarke.

©  2023 Carole Reardon

I don't think I'd consider the movie Phenomenon a pivotal part of my spiritual journey, but one scene definitely touched a chord in me. The main character, George, played by John Travolta, is stricken with a brain disorder that has in the short term given him incredible mental capacities, but on the downside eventually will take his life. George's love interest is played by Kyra Sedgwick who has two young children, Al and Glory, from a previous marriage.

After much ado in discovering his powers and toward the end of the movie, George, Al, and Glory have just finished repairing an old pick-up truck. Al stares glaringly at George.

George says: "What?!"

Al to George (angrily): "You came here to die, didn't you?"

George nods affirmatively and says: "I like this place, the people here . . . You know . . .

Obviously upset, George runs a short distance away to a fence. Al and Glory follow.

There is a pause.

George (while holding an apple) to Al: "What if we were to put this apple down and leave it? It would be spoiled and gone within a few days, but . . . if we were to take a bite of it . . . like this (bites into apple), it would become a part of us, and we could take it with us forever." After another pause George says, "Everything is on its way to somewhere . . . everything."

I was immediately reminded of our Christian Holy Eucharist. How our priest says the words "Sanctify them (the elements) by your Holy Spirit to be for your people the Body and Blood of your Son, the holy food and drink of new and unending life in him."

By taking the apple and eating it, Al carried it with him; and by allowing George to be a part of his life, he was richer for it (although, knowingly, he accepted a painful experience).

I am closer to God, through the Son and in the Holy Spirit, by taking part in the Holy Eucharist. I am able to go into the world in peace, with strength and courage, because of the closeness that I am afforded to Jesus Christ by experiencing the Holy Communion.

Thanks be to God.

©  2012 Blount Shepard

Teaser: Can a cookie be Atonement? It can and it is in the lush idyl The Quiet Girl, adapted from the novella, Foster, by Claire Keegan. Following nine-year-old Cáit as she is sent to an unfamiliar cousin’s home, we see through her eyes as she learns the satisfaction of purpose, beauty found in everyday routine, the grace in small gestures, and the family we create for ourselves. 

Filmed in Ireland and in Irish Gaelic with English subtitles, it is a quiet film and like it’s protagonist, “… says as much as she needs to…”.

Review: Struggling in school, all-too aware she is seen as a burden to her large family on their neglected farm, Cáit is sent to spend the summer with adult cousins some hours’ drive away. There, she follows the elegant Eibhlín (pronounced: Evelyn) and sturdy Seán Kinsella in the daily routines of their small, prosperous farm. Cáit watches and learns from the industrious couple that hard work can bring joy and satisfaction, compassion and a sense of humor best flavors interactions with others, and people, like farms, flourish when they get “some minding,”. Cáit’s posture straightens and her head lifts over the summer—like a plant nourished with secret well water and finding the sun for the first time. It is an unpretentious, beautifully filmed story about the grace abundant in the everyday and the family we find for ourselves (or is it provided?) when our own fails us. It is a triumph of a first feature film by documentary director Colm Bairéad. Starring: Carrie Crowley as Eibhlín, Andrew Bennett as Seán, and newcomer Catherine Clinch as Cáit. Released in 2022 and an appropriately economical 94 minutes run time.

©  2023 Carole Reardon

Quo Vadis—saw it in 1952 and was impacted by it (when I was 12 years old) and recently watched it again. It's a beautifully done movie with enormous cast. The action takes place in ancient Rome from AD 64–68, and the main conflict pits Christianity against the corruption of the Roman Empire. 

©  2012 Anna Blythe

Teaser: Sisu is the story of an elderly, retired Finnish Commando in 1944 during World War 2. Finland was attacked by Stalin's USSR in the winter following the dismemberment of Poland by Hitler and Stalin. The commando was tired of fighting.  He finds a gold vein and fills his saddlebags with gold.

A small mixed group of Waffen SS are retreating towards Norway ahead of Finnish and Soviet troops. The retreating SS troops are looting, burning and pillaging the Finns. Five or so Finnish women are pleasure unit captives of the SS.  [Author's note: Finland was once allied with Germany, made a separate peace with the USSR, and was forced by treaty terms to expel the Nazis from Finland.] This motley group of SS encounter the retired commando, loot his gold, and leave him hanging by the neck.

Review: Like Clint Eastwood in "Hang'em High," the commando escapes hanging. A highly entertaining murder-thon of Nazis ensues. The commando endures great suffering, kills the SS in highly entertaining ways, and frees the women. The movie is brief and to the point. The old commando's only spoken lines are in the last sixty seconds of the film.

If you enjoy movies with a high death count of those who deserve killing, you will enjoy this movie.  Lynn [author's wife] and I loved it.  A buddy who is a movie aficionado also loved it.  

Quick Review: Think "John Wick" versus the Waffen SS with less protagonist dialogue. 

©  2012 Avery Abernethy