The Yellow Birds

This is a strong and compelling adaptation of Kevin Power novel involving the Iraq War. It has driven and poetic moments, and versatile and strong acting, but does have the almost jumpy feel to it as we go back and forth from real time to different engagements in the film. . The strength of Director Alexandre Moore elicits centered performances from his cast, including strong support by Aniston as a desperate mother, Collette as an exasperated one, and Huston as a veteran leader who defies the easy dramatic classifications of "good" and "bad." The strength and passion of the film lies with the two leads who are outstanding. Sheridan (Mud, Joe, Ready Player One) is a soulful actor who deftly conveys Murph's naïveté and eventual break and crisis. He's instantly sympathetic. Ehrenreich, who has swung hard from impressive work (Hail, Caesar) to less so (Solo: A Star Wars Story) is focused and settled as the damaged young man at the story's center. His Bartle is a true everyman -- without direction, not a star soldier, not a failure. The difference in him before and after he reaches his personal breaking point is clear; the sometimes-poetic narration seems to come from somewhere that didn't exist until it was unearthed by his experiences. The levity of the film comes from the emotional and compelling performances. War pictures come across many ways and mostly with action and eye popping cinematography. This film comes at you in a completely different way and tells the story of what men and women see, feel and think in times of battle. Many are fearful, scared and become soulless to the graphic scenes they see. I like the film and feel it deserves many accolades. A superb story and perfectly captures the feel of war. A solid 8 out of 10

This movie is an movie to show how not to make a move of two line story.How could you stretch a such a small story for half an hour ,yeh that educational for student.The actors were good that's the only thing that is good about this movie.

I don´t know if this movie was trying to create another american-hero based stories or just tried to be against war! We´ve seen many times that how HW tries to justify Iraq´s invasion as a helping mission. Or show american soldiers as heroes and enemy as terrorist which is understandable propaganda by US movie industry. But this one wasn´t even clear about that, nor it was clear if it wants to show bad things about war.

For the first half hour or so I didn't know what to make of this film. The tone was all over the place and I couldn't tell if the filmmaker wanted to make a War film or a drama. I'll do my best not to spoil anything, but it wouldn't matter if I did, as this film isn't worth your time. It was very clear throughout the film that the writers/filmmaker, either weren't very knowledgeable of the US Army and how soldiers address each other, conduct themselves, or what battle drills are or how they are conducted. These two young soldiers we follow constantly refer to a non-commissioned officer as "sir". Anybody who has served knows that is a big no no and would earn them a nice smoke session(forced strenuous PT) until they address him properly. This is just one of many issues with the film. I honestly have no clue when this movie is set. Based on their uniforms I assume it takes place during the early stages of the invasion of Iraq, yet bars and private homes have modern flat screen wall mounted tv sets? Also there is a scene near the beginning, of the two leads meeting each other at a shooting range, but I couldn't tell if it was supposed to be at bootcamp, or at their assigned duty station. This film is rife with this style of poor writing. The War scenes should've either been cut entirely or presented more ambiguously. Because these actors and the director slept walked right through them. None of it felt earned or organic, which is partially due to the lifeless foley. The rifles, LMGs, explosions, hiss/snaps of incoming fire etc. all sounded like it was meant to be marketed to the elderly, so it wouldn't hurt their ears. I'm surprised nobody stepped in and told this director to get some kind of energy and passion out of the actors. By about the fifty minute mark it was clear that they were going for a mystery/drama, but even that felt unearned. None of the dramatic scenes felt natural, it felt as though the writer was searching for something to keep the audience invested. This wasn't the worst War film I've seen, but it's not a good one either. It tries too hard to be multiple different things at once, the acting was average at best, there wasn't enough build up to any of the plot points, the directing was weak for the most part. There is a good movie in here.... Somewhere. They just couldn't find it.

These studios that want to make military movies need to hire advisers, I'm sure there are a million vets out there that will do it just to see that it's done correctly, I would gladly. I got 4 mins into the film before I turned it off. Specialist insignia upside down on uniform, people calling an NCO "sir". C'mon now, it's 2018. There's probably more war vets alive in the history of America than ever before, least you can do is get it right if you're going to portray us!

Good movie!

Good movie!

Good movie!

Good movie!

Hollywood again demonstrates they do not care enough about the military to take the time to try to learn how to present it in film. If they hired a military adviser to ensure the military dress and traditions and the NCO Corps were presented correctly the film could have been pretty good. The story was good. But, the Soldier playing the NCO wouldn't make it as a private in the Army. He was ridiculous. He was so out of uniform and acted so unprofessionally it severely detracted from the story. I know most people watching have no military experience so they wouldn't recognize the gross inaccuracies about military conduct and dress. But, military folks will be the best promoters when the film is good. This movie should be a 7 or 8 star film but really missed the mark for me. Advice, hire veterans to help make the movie authentic.