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List Price: $9.98 | | Label: 20th Century Fox
Salesrank: 35395
Released: December 26, 2000 |
| Our Price: $2.00 |
| Used Price: $1.37 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
When Lt. Colonel Nathaniel Serling (Denzel Washington) is asked to review the posthumous candidacy of the first woman (Meg Ryan) to receive a medal of honor, he finds himself plunged into an apparent cover-up surrounding the actions that led to her death. As he struggles to uncover the truth, he also finds himself forced to confront his own tormenting demons. Matt Damon co-stars in this powerful and provocative drama.
Description of Courage Under Fire:
A year after a devastating friendly fire incident during the Gulf War, Lt. Colonel Nathaniel Serling (Denzel Washington) is in a Washington, D.C., desk job assigned the rudimentary task of overseeing a Medal of Honor candidate who died in the war. However, the case and soldier in question are a political hot potato--Captain Karen Walden (Meg Ryan) is America's first female soldier to be killed in combat.
Serling soon finds discrepancies in the case of a downed Medevac helicopter in the rocky Kuwait territory. What unfolds in flashback are several versions of Walden's tactics (à la Kurosawa's Rashomon) to rescue the soldiers and survive the downing. As with Glory, Director Edward Zwick's cast of unknown and famous faces always comes off as the real article. Walden's crew is especially convincing. Matt Damon as the medic comes off as the giddy scaredy-cat when telling his story to Washington. In battle he's a flawed, humorous soldier. The most surprising work in the movie is done by Lou Diamond Phillips (as the group's gunman), whose career had been headed to straight-to-video oblivion.
Then there's Ryan. She has done well with dramatic work in the past (When a Man Loves a Woman, Flesh and Bone) but has never been able to escape the romantic-comedy image. With dyed hair, a light accent, and the dramatics of the situation, Ryan finally has an enduring dramatic film. Even though she has half of Washington's screen time, her brave and ultimately haunting performance makes Courage something special, right down to its curious but rewarding final scene. --Doug Thomas
Courage Under Fire Reviews:
Innovative, compelling war picture 
2009-08-11 - The Bottom Line:
Easily the best Gulf War movie(if you don't count Three Kings), Courage Under Fire features one of Denzel Washington's better performances, a couple of very convincing combat sequences, and an innovative structure which works decidedly in the film's favor; I walked into this movie expecting something Hollywood-ish and formulaic and emerged impressed by the movie Zwick crafted.
3.5/4
Decent Film But Never Really Sucked Me In 
2009-07-06 - There are two primary reasons why I chose to recently watch this film: First, the fact that Denzel Washington is such an incredible, impassionate actor. Second, that Washington's movies often serve as vehicles to stoke his creative talents. He feeds the script with his passion, and his passion can take a decent story and turn it into an emotional one. However, "Courage Under Fire" failed to hook me in on both of those counts.
Let's begin with the plot: Basically, Denzel plays a former military commander from Desert Storm (with a pretty big skeleton in his closet) who is now in charge of investigating the applicants for the prestigious "Medal of Honor" military award. While researching this particular case, however, "Denzel" stumbles upon a few little inconsistencies that, once they begin to add up, point to a larger cover-up at work. The story is told through the flash-backs of all the people that "Denzel" speaks with while doing his detective work, so to speak. Of course, as is human recollection, each person has a bit of a different "take" on the subject...but is it really just bad memories or something more sinister?
Though that may sound like a very interesting plot, to me it fell flat because it tried to do too many things at one time when it could have just focused on one it two. It tries to be an action picture, but there aren't enough war scenes to justify that characterization. It tries to be a mystery, but that doesn't really work because the viewer never really (at least I didn't) figures out exactly what went on in the central point of conflict. Finally, the film also tries to be a morality play, yet not even that tugs at the heartstrings (not the dramatic ones, at least) since it is so stoic and military-esque in its approach.
Perhaps the biggest failure in this film, though, was the missed opportunities (or maybe it was just bad casting) for Denzel Washington. As a performer, he is at his peak when he is given the opportunity to emote wildly and passionately for a cause he strongly believes in. However, this film takes on such a rigid, non-dramatic tone that Denzel never gets to show that incredible acting style. One only one occasion does he start to get heated, but that approach is quickly squashed and the procedural stuff rolls on.
Thus, I really can't recommend this film to fans of Washington's work, or to fans of military mystery/thrillers. It is just too procedural and droll to really hook you into the whole experience. A 2.5 star rating would have been my optimal choice, but there is just enough solid acting and some compelling material to give it a boost up rather than down. I much more highly recommend the film "High Crimes", as it covers some of the same basic dramatic material but does so in a much more high-energy, dramatic fashion.
Courage Under Scrutiny 
2009-05-31 - I enjoyed this movie a lot. I would have given it a '5' except that the complexity of the plot made it difficult to follow at times.
The story is about an officer (Denzel Washington) investigating whether another officer (Meg Ryan) should be awarded a posthumous medal of honor. Denzel has just returned from Desert Storm where he has tragically killed some Americans in error by friendly fire. He is also suffering from a drinking problem. The powers that be want him to rubber stamp the medal for Meg Ryan but Denzel is intent in examining everything down to the last bit. This is where the story gets very interesting. As he examines the other soldiers who were in the helicopter with Meg Ryan, each has a different story of what happened. Denzel realizes that something is amiss. Either memories are way lapsed or there are secrets and lies withheld.
How Denzel gets to the bottom of things and figures out the truth of what happened on that fateful day that took Meg Ryan's life is the gist of this story. I also liked the fact that this is a role out of character for Meg Ryan and she did very well with it.
Speedy deliveriy
2009-05-19 - CD was recieved sooner than expected, product was in good condition as described. Was packaged well.
Courge Under Fire (Blue Ray)
2009-04-08 - Ording was simple,however, the USPS doesn't update their tracking of the items you order. Everything stops at Denver Col. and all status from there on is missing. Trying to get a USPS rep. to answer the phone is a another problem.
