This film is in many other ways a bit of a mess and didn't need to be. Not only is the film anachronistic, but it isn't very well thought out or logical as well. After all, an American (Cliff Robertson) is chosen to lead a secret mission of British soldiers because of his knowledge of the Japanese language (which makes sense) but through the course of the film, the soldiers sneaking into the Japanese sector of a contested island CONSTANTLY talk, yell and even sing!!! What part of SECRET is all this?! You would assume that with their lives at stake that they'd SHUT UP!! You'd also assume they wouldn't pick some of the worst soldiers in the history of films to be in this elite group...but one is practically a Japanese agent due to his CONSTANT disloyalty, bickering, stealing from the dead and MUCH worse. So you have an important mission and only send a few men and you make several of them totally evil and selfish. What sense does any of this make?!
This film, like "Kelly's Heroes", is a revisionist picture. While the movie is supposedly set during WWII, it clearly is meant as a metaphor for the Vietnam war as well as shows the spirit of the 60s. Because of this, it's a lousy history lesson. Plus, combined with bad writing, it's really not a very good picture. And, at over two hours, it's a long ride.
So if there anything I liked about the film? Well, I liked how they showed the Japanese soldiers and Michael Caine and Robertson weren't bad. They weren't exactly good, either. The ending was also pretty exciting. Other than that, it's a big-budgeted film that really isn't all that good.
This film, like "Kelly's Heroes", is a revisionist picture. While the movie is supposedly set during WWII, it clearly is meant as a metaphor for the Vietnam war as well as shows the spirit of the 60s. Because of this, it's a lousy history lesson. Plus, combined with bad writing, it's really not a very good picture. And, at over two hours, it's a long ride.
So if there anything I liked about the film? Well, I liked how they showed the Japanese soldiers and Michael Caine and Robertson weren't bad. They weren't exactly good, either. The ending was also pretty exciting. Other than that, it's a big-budgeted film that really isn't all that good.