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| BOX SET DETAILS | Released
09 March 2009 | | Certificate
18 | | Distributor
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Generation Kill
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Review
Another war, another exploration of the damage done to soldiers’ psyches in the battlefield… From Attack to Paths Of Glory, Platoon to Jarhead, screen history is littered with exposés of military bureaucracy, institutional idiocy and how, y’know, killing can mess you up a bit. So, it’s hard not to feel a little battle-weary sitting down to watch Generation Kill, even if it is from the makers of The Wire. Seven hours later, the weariness has been well and truly obliterated by exhilaration, truth, laughs and sadness. Toss the preconceptions: Generation Kill is essential.
Rolling Stone scribe Evan Wright was at the “tip of the spear” during the USA’s 2003 invasion of Iraq, passenger in a Humvee full of reconnaissance Marines, scrapping through the country on the way to Baghdad. His much-praised reports became a book, which became this series, co-scripted with The Wire’s writers, former crime reporter David Simon and ex-cop, teacher and Vietnam veteran Ed Burns. It’s as detailed, dense and initially indecipherable as Wire-watchers will expect, with characters only gradually emerging from the chaos and the dialogue scripted in the Devil Dogs’ own inimitable, aggressive argot, with no concessions to POGs (Person Other than Grunts). The lack of easily identifiable stories or, in screenwriter-speak, character arcs, is because Generation Kill is about the truth. For those who felt Stop-Loss and In The Valley Of Elah were too agenda-driven to be engrossing, this is the antidote, its intention simply to show the military experience as it is (the closest it comes to caricature is in the portrayal of dumb or callous officers). The marines emerge as dedicated, despicable, admirable, stupid, inclusive, racist, compassionate and terrifying. And war a mixture of the mundane and the horrifying, with even the bleakest situations shot through with black humour. As Ray (the brilliant James Ransone) says, “That was cool: who do we invade now?”
Reviewed by Nev Pierce
Extras
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Generation Kill
Released: 09 March 2009
There was a strong British influence on Generation Kill, with producers Andrea Calderwood (The Last King Of Scotland) and George Faber (Morvern Callar) and directors Simon Cellan Jones and Susanna White. Quite how the shooters behind Some Voices and Bleak House became involved isn’t covered in the ‘making of’ documentary, though it’s fascinating to see the slightly plummy White on-set in Africa — doing a brilliant job of handling both intimacy and action — and hear her teased on a chat-track about shooting a nude scene.
The naked Marine is Rudy Reyes, who — showing just how closely the makers cleaved to the truth — is playing himself. The other Marines Wright wrote about are present for a fascinating Q&A, while the commentaries’ most surprising fact is that the actor playing Sergeant Brad ‘Iceman’ Colbert, the series fulcrum who seems as American as the Super Bowl and school shootings, is actually Swedish (Alexander Skarsgård). Screwby!
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Average user rating for Generation Kill
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| RE: Brilliant. | | Amazing. Simply put, the most powerful and well made mini series i have ever seen. Every marine is full of character, you feel for them, you relate to them, some just want to go out and kill, others try to figure out why they are actualy there in the first place. They feel they have accomplished nothing. Everything is extremely realisitic, the conversations, the battle sequences and the conflicting opinions and emotions of the marines where all experienced first hand by the reporter, you know t... More | | Posted by Coyleone at 05:00, 19 March 2011 | Report This Post | |
| | | RE: Brilliant. | | L: indysid
Classic. I prefer The Wire to this though.
ixed that for you.
... More | | Posted by spamandham at 14:56, 17 September 2009 | Report This Post | |
| | | Brilliant. | | Classic. I prefer this to The Wire. ... More | | | Posted by indysid at 16:37, 16 September 2009 | Report This Post | |
| | | Generation kill | | Thought that this tv mini series was very good because it gives you a good insight in to what life is like for the soilders and the people that live there ... More | | | Posted by karl1255 at 20:13, 04 May 2009 | Report This Post | |
| | | Can't fault it. | | Loved it; more so because it captured the sheer boredom that it's characters feel at times, without ever being boring itself. Superb acting and writing, and it throws together the equally mindless and thought-provoking, and (a lot like The Wire) shows that the two are sometimes hard to define. ... More | | | Posted by TheWitherall at 13:18, 20 March 2009 | Report This Post | |
| | | | Absolutely loved this series. HBO really are world leaders at producing high quality, utterly addictive mini series. The only disappointment was that it ended! I could have happily watched those guys for another season :) ... More | | | Posted by nclowe at 10:03, 09 March 2009 | Report This Post | |
| | | Generation Kill | | I have ordered my dvds from play.com and I have been watching them on FX. It is incredible the level of detail and quality of acting that is involved. Ransone (Ziggy in Wire 2) is amazing and made for this role and I cannot recommend the show enough. Only problem I have is that it is a 1 off series, damn you David Simon! First you end The Wire and now this torture?! ... More | | | Posted by mcbadabing at 13:35, 05 March 2009 | Report This Post | |
| | | RE: Generation Kill | | I've been watching this on FX. It took me a couple of episodes to get into it and understand all the military lingo but I love it now. Its typical David Simon fare, following similar themes to The Wire. I like the way it shows how poor decisions at high levels are rarely questioned in the military and how these decisions affect the grunts on the ground.
The battle scenes are well staged and choreographed in a similar way to Band Of Brothers, the scripts are realistic and the acting ... More | | Posted by nez75 at 13:52, 01 March 2009 | Report This Post | |
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