Four Feathers

[JunkerSeed]

Caught this one before class today, and it was pretty cool.

It's about the british empire back in the late 1800's. Britain is about to send a group of soldier to sudan to kick some ass, and there's one guy who chickens out the day they announce that they're being sent. He quits for a girl, and just out of general fear. Three of his friends and the aforementioned girl send him white feathers, a symbol of cowardice. Since he can't live with himself that way, he finds a way to get to sudan, and tries to get to his friends by acting like an arab and traveling round the country.

 

A lot of it is pretty typical and straight forward. You kind of wish they'd get on with it because you know what's gonna happen and you sort of wish they'd get on with it and skip all the drama. Didn't care for the characters much, no real attachment, guess thats why i didnt care for the drama, everything was there just to move the plot forward. I thought the most interesting character was the main character's best friend (played by wes bentey, the guy with the camera from american beauty). He was extremely jealous, but also very loyal, conflicted and all that. Also every once in a while they'd try to hit you with the "slavery is bad" message, seemed sort of out of place.

The cool parts definately made it worth it though. Once he gets to sudan and finds his friends, it gets a lot better. There's one big battle that just rocks. The british try to hold a formation while the egyptians rush them and it's just too cool. From there to the climax it's very good.

So, all in all I liked it, but it was nothing special. I think they either should have shortened the fake, utilitarian drama and gotten straight to the meat, or used more time and actually developed characters I cared about. So, I'd say you should catch it if you're in the mood for this sort of thing and you dont have something better to watch. It was certainly cool, just don't be missing "spirited away" for it or anything.