Really Surprised!

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Rescue Dawn is a great tale of a US soldier who is captured by Vietnamese forces after his flying mission fails and he somehow manages to land safety after surviving the crash. It is a great man vs nature film shot in the lush jungles of Thailand using some cool camera techniques. Christian Bale plays the main lead and he goes to such extremes to make the film- something not atypical of him- that you must commend him for it. Werner Herzog is the man behind the camera and this might be his most accessible feature film and as you know- anything with Herzog's name is worth a watch.

Based on what I have read about the actual truth behind this mans story, this film is very inaccurate. It shows a few truths of what happened to him but compared to what I read, he seems to live a life of luxury in this film. The reality was a lot harsher and he was treated a lot worse. Finally, it always makes me laugh how Americans think they won the Vietnam war.

This is a movie which shows us a completely different side of being a prisoner (of war, in this case) and a side which explains a lot about humans in captivity.You know how every once in a while you come across a news story about how some dictator in a third world is torturing the whole country and you can't help but wonder "Why don't these people rebel?". Well, Rescue Dawn will give you a clue.Going into this, I expected a lot of torture and graphic violence but to my surprise there wasn't that much of it. Sure, prisoners are tortured but not to the extent you see in other films about being a POW. The main focus of the story is the six men's daily struggle with their own minds as they rot away in the prison camp.One of the best parts is how the title of the "bad guy" changes hands throughout the story - Fellow prisoners, United States armed forces, Viet Cong, the jungle - everything and everybody is a friend at one time and foe at other.Don't expect explosions and fast paced actions scenes but if you like war movies and prison movies this is a must see!

This movie was based on the true story of a US Navy fighter pilots struggle for survival after being shot down and captured during a mission over Laos during the Vietnam war. And considering the source material this should have been an excellent movie. Somehow though it seemed a bit cheesy at times and wound up feeling more like an episode of Locked Up Abroad, with the bad re-enactments.Steve Zahn does a great job as a fellow POW as does Jeremy Davies but Christian Bale is terrible, with the best part of his acting job being the weight loss. I also found the sound of his voice annoying particularly when he's yelling, weird I know. The ending is also too much, with the kidnapping back to the ship (Rescue Dawn) and all the rah, rah once aboard, like he's a rock star or something. So bad, I can't believe this part really happened. In all honestly I never got the feel of the 60's here either, maybe the 80's. Disappointing as a whole. 7/5/14