Tigerland

Colin Farrell, I have a soft spot for this Irish lad. Overacting is an unfamiliar concept for him, he’s completely natural and believable, as if moving in front of the camera was a piece of cake. His performance raised the quality of Schumacher's film a lot, but the film itself has other merits. Above all, it's a quality story about a misfit rebel who doesn't need the fucking army and the fucking war, and who knows all sorts of loopholes in the regulations and the law that, when used properly, allow you to fuck with the war. I would have liked it if the screenwriter hadn't turned Farrell into a full-blown Mirek Dušín at one crucial moment in the end, which would have made him an even more vital character, but otherwise no objections. The whole film is mainly conversational with well-written dialogues, those who expect combat scenes will be disappointed. The raw, sometimes documentary-like concept, supported by an interestingly shaky camera, is also a merit, and hand in hand with the visual austerity is the well-known fact that low budgets suit Schumacher very well. By the way, just for the record, Tigerland ran in only five theaters in the U.S. and grossed $139,000 in three months. (10/26/2005)

Schumacher in form again. Another slant on Vietnam, a little different this time and maybe more universally applicable. Bullying at a training camp is confronted cleverly by one cunning, but kind-hearted solider. Farrell excels as Bozz. (02/22/2013)

A bravura script that can even be pulled out of its wartime setting and worked with as a study of how easy it is to stand up to authority, which from a certain level can no longer take anything away from you. The mobilized Roland Bozz does nothing at all that is asked of him; if he does, it is only to prove the absurdity of the order in its literalness, ostentatiously showing his contempt for the whole cycle of war, demoralizing the unit and making a mockery of command. But he is not the Švejk figure of the uncertain disrupter. Colin Farrell here oozes that disgust and contempt for everything about the military in general, even though he has the absolutely perfect equipment to become a career soldier. Applying Tigerland to people nestled in unfulfilling jobs full of cretinous doctrines could prove the timelessness of virtually all the arguments made here. "What can they do to us, send us to Vietnam?" (01/30/2020)