Buffalo Soldiers
This review has been lying on the shelf just waiting to be written up, much like the release schedule of this film, which was written before 9/11 and just now, well, two months ago, released to American audiences. Ray Elwood (Joaquin Phoenix) chose military service over jail time and now is stationed in Germany as the battalion chief. He’s also the supply clerk and living it up selling his military surplus on the black market, all under the eye of aging Colonel Berman (Ed Harris), whose wife currently has a thing going with Elwood. A new sergeant (Scott Glenn) transfers in and cuts Elwood’s black market ties. Elwood then catches the eye of the sergeant’s daughter played by Anna Paquin, whom he first dates as a retaliatory measure but soon starts to like her. In the meantime, Elwood continues some of his other shady ways including some arms sales and processing drugs.

This dark comedy hinges on the performances of its cast, which is high-quality. It’s amusing at some points and very humorous at others in portraying this rag-tag group as the laughingstock of the area, especially with its military drill gone awry against the nearby military base, its lack of knowledge of the area they’re in, and the antics people take when heroin takes control of some tank operators. This satire of the American military had much potential, but was there a point to the film? None that I could see, and that’s what makes the film not great, just okay. Instead, it throws a bunch of ideas at the wall and sees what sticks, with no care at what message they could have brought. 2.5 stars