Tigerland Blu-ray Review
For the most part, the major war films based around Vietnam have all been fairly respectful to the subject matter – not offering to tone down the experiences of those involved and covering a wide variety of aspects of the war. Tigerland tells the tale of a small group of men at the initial training leading from boot camp right up to the last experience at the titular camp where they’re thrown into a recreation of the real thing.
Farrell’s performance is commendable and you can see why Schumacher went on to work with him again in Phone Booth, and vice versa. Farrell, for a while afterwards, seemed cursed to work with some of Hollywood’s biggest directors: Spielberg, Stone, Mallick, Mann, Gilliam!
There also has to be kudos given to the rest of the cast – Matthew Davies seems to have all but disappeared but puts in good work here, as do the likes of Clifton Collins Jr, Michael Shannon and Cole Hauser. Tigerland seems to be a small film in many respects, but the more intimate portrayal of the stress men are put under without even having faced a true enemy is quite powerful.
The Blu-ray transfer retains a heavy amount of grain if you’re watching it on a big TV, but considering the amount of dirt and shaky-cam effects (there’s a lot of handheld material on screen) you pretty much soak it up as part of the feel of the film. On the extras side of things it’s pretty much a repeat of the special edition DVD; featurettes abound and there’s an interesting commentary from Joel Schumacher.
Tigerland belongs up there with some of the best Vietnam war films ever made, even if is a Vietnam war film that doesn’t actually get to the war. If you enjoyed the psychological play in the opening half of Full Metal Jacket, then Tigerland gives you a feature in that life. It never gets as hardcore as FMJ, but it’s powerful stuff all the same and a great character study of men who find themselves in the barracks for reasons they can’t even comprehend themselves.
Steven Hurst