Let's be realistic.

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Just everything in this documentary works! It's shocking, informative, funny (letters from James), fast and fluid.Just every documentary should be like this.Especially the interviews were great, for me as a SoF-Fan it was awesome to see John Mullins in it, and what he has to say about the game and his job as a 'soldier for hire'.I don't know if there are other documentary's about private military contractors but it's hard to beat this one.Normal people think that pmc's are bad dudes, slaves of there greed, guy's who sold their soul to the devil, yada yada, it's just great that this documentary destroy's this fairy tale at the beginning.Everyone who thinks he knows about modern warfare, needs to see this.

After Fahrenheit 9/11 and "When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts" I feared the political documentary genre was forever lost in liberal bias. Shadow Company restores this genre to its rightful place of respectability.Far too often documentary film makers shape their films to fit their predetermined conclusions and present only the footage that backs up their premise. Shadow Company takes a fair and balanced approach that few filmmakers, or news outlets for that matter, have the courage and integrity to take.Shadow Company is an extremely insightful, educational, and entertaining look at a remarkable and very controversial event in contemporary politics and modern warfare. Anyone hoping to have a well informed conversation about the war in Iraq needs to see this film. Conservatives and liberals alike will call it one of their favorite films of the year.

From the description, I expected Shadow Company to be a condemnation of privately run military companies, however the actual film turned out to be very well balanced and well put together.The film grabs varying viewpoints, from the soldiers in the field, to the executives that hire them, to ethics experts and more. The film looked at the issue from historical, financial, ethical, and effective standpoints.The film added liveliness and interest through clever use of overlays and cut-away scenes. It managed to add elements of humor from time to time that helped the film feel much less dry than other documentaries.The best part about the documentary is that it did not attempt to sell me a particular viewpoint. It left me still pondering everything that I had seen on the screen, and attempting to decide what I really felt about the issue.In total, one of the finer documentaries I have ever seen.

Almost everything you ever wanted to know about mercenaries, Shadow Company objectively provides historical background as well as poses questions on the importance of being informed about contract military today.The filmmakers neither condemn or glorify those who chose this line of work, although in the backlash against military in general after Abu Ghraib stories broke, it may appear to be more sympathetic to at least some of the subjects in the film. In fairness, it is balanced, and focuses not on the right or wrong of contract military/security firms, but on history, structure, and how they fit into global military action, from Sierre Leone to Iraq. It's a thoughtful, articulate documentary.