Friday
26Sep2008
Movie Review - 'The Lucky Ones'
Friday, September 26, 2008 at 12:05AM The Lucky OnesStarring Tim Robbins, Rachel McAdams, and Michael Pena
Directed by Neil Burger
Rated R
Neil Burger has shown tremendous range in just
two major feature films. The first, 2006’s The Illusionist, had a
tremendous cinematic beauty and one of those star-crossed-lovers stories. It
looked European, epic, and serious. His new film,
The Lucky Ones,
doesn’t share any of those characteristics but it’s more personal and is
probably a slightly better, most enduring movie.
Filmed almost like a documentary, The Lucky Ones
follows three American soldiers returning home from the war in Iraq. Cheever (Tim
Robbins) has been a career soldier, but following back surgery, he’s
leaving the Army for good. Colee (Rachel
McAdams) joined the Army young because she had nowhere else to go.
She’s recovering from a gunshot to the leg and has been sent back home for a
month. Of course, with no home to go to, she charts her own course, hoping to
deliver a fallen soldier's guitar to his family in Las Vegas. TK (Michael
Peña) is recovering from an injury to a more delicate part of the
body, but he’ll be back in Iraq when his 30-day leave is over.
Due to a series of canceled flights on the east coast,
the soldiers rent a van and drive cross-country to make it home. It’s not
surprising that we learn about the characters during the road trip; that’s the
function of a road trip movie. To its detriment, the film does play like a standard road trip flick for quite a while, and it should be a little better than that. Regardless, what we learn - both about the soldiers
and the actors portraying them - catches us a little off-guard. 
Reader Comments (1)
I thought this movie was amazing. I'd have thrown in a few more damn dirty apes.