I just want to state that this was long before watching the original Dune more like pre-Memorial Day before I sat down and watched one of the most obnoxiously bad films of David Lynch's. It was really a typical weekend waiting for the Cardinals to play Baseball and my mom decided to put Courage Under Fire on Hulu. Strangely enough I've seen bits and pieces of the movie a long time ago but there were only scenes of Meg Ryan pointing a gun at young Matt Damon and Lou Diamond Phillips and I was hooked onto this movie so much I forgot the Cardinals we're playing. So, as faith would happen, I decided to sit down and watch Courage Under Fire, and honestly, it's been so long since I've seen ANY Meg Ryan movie.
During the 1991 Gulf War, Lieutenant Colonel Nathaniel Serling (Denzel Washington) accidentally caused a friendly fire incident, a mistake that has been hushed up by his superiors. Following the war, he is assigned to investigate the case of Army Captain Karen Walden (Meg Ryan), killed in action when her Medevac unit was attempting to rescue the crew of a downed helicopter. But Serling interviews the members of Walden's crew, he realizes their stories about the incident don't add up.
Historical fact there actually was a woman honored with the Medal of Honor, Civil War Physician Mary Edwards Walker, though not for valor in combat her award was later revoked in 1917 but then restored around 1977 so, typical America when you think about it. I do remember seeing bits and pieces of the movie though I remember seeing Meg Ryan being betrayed to a surprise visit of Matt Damon though still been quite a long time watching the film until now and yet still surprised to see Rudy aka Sean Astin in the movie it's more like first ten minutes of the film. Edward Zwick, director of the film has done a ton of films mostly epic historical dramas from movies I've probably seen in like the fifth grade or even the movie theaters and movies I've surprisingly remembered watching via renting the movie. Those films are his iconic Civil War film Glory, The Last Samurai starring Tom Cruise as an American Samurai and the shocking moreover surprised film I didn't expect he made was the Siege starring Denzel Washington and Bruce Willis and more importantly was Zwick’s next movie after Courage Under Fire. And finally, Blood Diamond in 2006 so, really Zwick is one of those directors that you've probably seen in your lifetime though just don't remember the number of movies he's done and yet keeps a low profile after the film's release. As great as this movie is with not question Zwick's direction of the film basically centering it around a broken-down Colonel whose going through a lot after his time in the Gulf War, and investigating the story of Meg Ryan's character is his chance of redemption for which Edward Zwick does great job telling a story like that with the central character is played by Denzel Washington. I'm not going into much detail of how great Denzel is in the movie because everyone who’s seen a Denzel Washington film would know that he's a master actor. And the same goes with Roger Deakins because I've already stated before in many of the films, he's collaborated with famous directors he's another master of perfecting the perfect scene or imagery. But Meg Ryan really does a fantastic job playing a character who is told by different perspectives and does a great job playing with her emotions and I've never seen a good portion of Meg Ryan's work but this movie she does a fantastic job with this film and like I said before it's been a while since I've seen ANY Meg Ryan film literally You Got Mail? Eh, Sleepless in Seattle? Meh, When Harry met Sally? Uh well I'm not going to talk much about City of Angels. I do have to admit while watching Courage Under Fire, the film reminded me of another War based mystery Basic which came out in 2003 furthermore that film also has the same concept of both characters telling the same story but each of them don't add up, for which I'm kind of curious if the writer actually stole that idea from Courage Under Fire, unfortunately I don't know if it's true or not I may have to go and do some research as every serial would say "To Be Continued". Even though we're long passed Memorial Day I would highly recommend this for anyone who loves epic War Drama's and if you're a fan of Denzel Washington this would most certainly be the movie for you, but most importantly I hope you all get into films that Edward Zwick has made through the years especially one I've mentioned in this review.
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