Expected more

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

First the Lt. Colonel should have been in his dress blue uniform, if his men were in their dress blue uniforms, at the Dover hanger scene.Second when Staff Sargent Sal starts having a discussion, where he wants to put down the Lt. Colonel, any enlisted man knows these officers like to be called Colonel and not Lieutenant Colonel, so Sal should have addressed him as Lieutenant Colonel, his correct rank.In the military there are 3 places where officers are addressed by a higher rank, than they actually have. First no one calls a 2nd Lieutenant 2nd Lieutenant or in the Navy no one calls a Lieutenant Junior Grade Lieutenant Junior Grade, these ranks get upgraded to Lieutenant. Second same courtesy as 05's go from Lieutenant Commander or Lieutenant Colonel to Commander and Colonel.Third when an officer gets his her First Star (Flag grade) they do not want to be called Sir or Mam anymore, they want to hear Yes Admiral or Yes General. And no one in their right mind is going to address a 1 star Admiral by using their official title. "Admiral lower Half, Chief Robinson reporting for duty." Be My Little General Brigadier Major Lieutenant General.Navy Rear Admiral Lower half (1 star) Rear Admiral Upper Half (2 stars) Vice Admiral (3 stars) Admiral (4 stars).When Sal went to rent the truck, how come he didn't give the reverend the keys to his car, or if the reverend could not drive because of his bum leg, he should have taken Doc with him so that after renting the truck, they both could drive back to the Air base and the Rev could have ridden in the truck with Sal or the car with Doc and not try to take a bus home. Sal just leaves his car in Delaware?And last but not least, when the Marine was sitting around in the train's cargo compartment, and the 3 older vets go back to talk with him, you see the young Marine sitting on Doc's son's boxed casket, never, never, never would have happened.

Plot grabs me at times. Lost me at times. Loved Bryan Cranston's role. Way too many f-bombs.

This was a movie made for those of us who came of age in the 1960s. If you had some military background, it is even more meaningful to you. It transitions from those "old days" to today in a unique way. Bryan Cranston is excellent in his role as an ex-Marine who was originally from New York as is Laurence Fishburne, the bad dud turned minister. Steve Carell's character says little, but he comes across well as an ex-Navy Corpsman type. The story line interweaves three men's camaraderie and experience with "the system" with today's military. The old veterans have that distrust of the US government which was prevalent in those who served during Vietnam or who came of age during that same time frame. That distrust carries over to more recent times with the lies that Carell's character "Doc" gets as the official story of how his only son dies as a Marine in Iraq. The three veterans all question what happened now and then, and find many answers along their way to their destination at a cemetery in New Hampshire. This is a well done film that I would also classify as a film that will have much more appeal to men than women, especially older guys in their late 60s or 70s. It is a lot better than many of the films that were nominated for Academy Awards this year (2018) and one of those films where you shake your head and say why no Oscar? It's a great film.

Dramatic, poignant, serious, and yet delightfully light hearted. It's about young men at war and the old men returned from war and their memories and the remarkably incommon issues they have handled and moved forward each in their own way. As a retired military combat veteran myself I loved it. The acting is superb by all the players and the story is just memorable and touching in a good way. Needless to say again I loved it for so many reasons. Also, in my view it's an exceptional story of how young men change and adapt to life circumstances whether they are combat veteran or not.