Flags of Our Fathers

Flags of Our Fathers is the perfect example of a well done movie that just isn't that rewatchable. Even with movies like Saving Private Ryan and Braveheart, you could bare to watch them more frequently because the payoff appeals to all of us: ordinary men overcoming great odds to do something extraordinary.

Then again, that's the point of Clint Eastwood's latest directorial venture. That these soldiers were ordinary men, and maybe not so much "heroes" as they were just guys trying to live through the madness of war. So, it's not a fair reason to discount the movie, but purely a reason that I won't be antsy to pop this one in the player when it comes out on DVD. It's a historical account of the flag raisers at Iwo Jima and, while there is no real payoff, the message is quiet and profound. As one of the characters puts it in the film, "Maybe there were no heroes, but just men like my dad."

It's not an action-packed film, nor is it one where you leave cheering and stirred to go try great things, but it is a moving, honest, new perspective of the war we have come to admire as a "Good War..." and Flags of Our Fathers may persuade you to think a little differently. While I enjoyed the film immensely and appreciate its new take on an old genre, it's not a movie I'll be eager to rewatch anytime soon.

The bottom line: Rarely Rewatchable