I was surprised by how badly this did at the cinema and at it's low score here as I find it hard to fault.
It seems to be a rule of thumb that the more stars you have in a film the worse their performances. Here at last is an exception with all the main characters rising to the challenge. Even Paul Heiney, a unknown non-actor who only played the part of the French commando leader as part of a TV series "In at the deep end", is flawless.
This is the British doing what they do best - making fun of themselves. The characters are stereotypes, which annoys me in an action film but is just what a comedy needs. Perhaps one or two of the bit parts suffered because they had only time to parody them without fleshing them out, but the main characters are all believable despite their ludicrous over-the-top personas. You can't help feeling (hoping even) there really are forgotten, unloved corners of the world where people like this can still be found.
Essentially it is an parody on Colonialism, so I was amused by another reviewer's comment that it bordered on "offensive" because foreigners argue over the fate of the locals. That's what colonialism is.
I recommend this film to you as a little known gem. And after 20 years isn't it about time for the DVD version to make an appearance?
It seems to be a rule of thumb that the more stars you have in a film the worse their performances. Here at last is an exception with all the main characters rising to the challenge. Even Paul Heiney, a unknown non-actor who only played the part of the French commando leader as part of a TV series "In at the deep end", is flawless.
This is the British doing what they do best - making fun of themselves. The characters are stereotypes, which annoys me in an action film but is just what a comedy needs. Perhaps one or two of the bit parts suffered because they had only time to parody them without fleshing them out, but the main characters are all believable despite their ludicrous over-the-top personas. You can't help feeling (hoping even) there really are forgotten, unloved corners of the world where people like this can still be found.
Essentially it is an parody on Colonialism, so I was amused by another reviewer's comment that it bordered on "offensive" because foreigners argue over the fate of the locals. That's what colonialism is.
I recommend this film to you as a little known gem. And after 20 years isn't it about time for the DVD version to make an appearance?