... acting role I have ever seen him perform. By Far. Someone said he was better in "Stand By Me". I respectfully disagree; Wil's role in "Stand By Me" was an easy walk-through compared to the acting ability required of him in this film.
In format, this is really a play, recorded on film. The play starts late in the evening of 8 December 1941, the last day this country ever declared war. It ends early the next morning. Three of the five leave on a bus, headed to enlist; the other two stay behind. I'll bet no one can guess which two, before you see it! I was born six weeks to the day before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. So these characters are half a generation ahead of me. 1941, 66 years ago; it was a totally different time in our history. It takes hard effort on the viewer's part to wrap his head around that simple, supremely important fact.
Wil plays "bad influence" Kipp Gibbs; Brian Krause plays Tim Mitchell, the star-swimmer-jock everyone admires; Balthazar Getty plays Allister Gibbs, Kipp's younger brother. Jason London and Chris Young round out the kid cast. They are all students at "Green Mountain," which is meant to be a prep school in New Hampshire, it appears. They all do a good job, but Kipp is the most difficult of the five characters to portray. I really heartily disliked Kipp at the start, but felt the strongest empathic admiration for him by the end of the movie. That takes top acting talent, and Wil Wheaton really shines at pulling it off.
It took me two viewings to sort the characters out, get them pegged in my mind. Maybe I was tired during the first viewing, but it was a bit confusing. The second viewing was much more satisfying.
A pretty good film, worth seeing. And kudos to the young actors, especially Wil Wheaton. 8 out of 10.
In format, this is really a play, recorded on film. The play starts late in the evening of 8 December 1941, the last day this country ever declared war. It ends early the next morning. Three of the five leave on a bus, headed to enlist; the other two stay behind. I'll bet no one can guess which two, before you see it! I was born six weeks to the day before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. So these characters are half a generation ahead of me. 1941, 66 years ago; it was a totally different time in our history. It takes hard effort on the viewer's part to wrap his head around that simple, supremely important fact.
Wil plays "bad influence" Kipp Gibbs; Brian Krause plays Tim Mitchell, the star-swimmer-jock everyone admires; Balthazar Getty plays Allister Gibbs, Kipp's younger brother. Jason London and Chris Young round out the kid cast. They are all students at "Green Mountain," which is meant to be a prep school in New Hampshire, it appears. They all do a good job, but Kipp is the most difficult of the five characters to portray. I really heartily disliked Kipp at the start, but felt the strongest empathic admiration for him by the end of the movie. That takes top acting talent, and Wil Wheaton really shines at pulling it off.
It took me two viewings to sort the characters out, get them pegged in my mind. Maybe I was tired during the first viewing, but it was a bit confusing. The second viewing was much more satisfying.
A pretty good film, worth seeing. And kudos to the young actors, especially Wil Wheaton. 8 out of 10.