TeaTelling the truth about this war is supporting our boys,” replied a deadpan Russell Crowe about the Vietnam War further north to Zac Efron, a military supporter at the Hotel Caravelle in Saigon. “That’s the war, Chick. . It’s a huge crime scene,” Crowe reminds Efron, in light of the horrors he has seen before going their separate ways afterward.
Narrations like these make up most of the dialogue featured in Apple TV’s latest true-story film The Greatest Bear Run EverAs with nearly every interaction between the film’s characters there is a broad political discussion on the unpopular Vietnam War, with a sprinkling of visions from everyone here and there.
On paper, it sounds like a disaster, replete with clichés, shoehorned messages, and thinly written characters that plot the plot in a rudimentary fashion rather than say anything in depth about one of modern history’s darkest periods. do service. But in practice, The Greatest Bear Run Ever Works and keeps you busy despite having a lot of room for improvement.
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From the creators of Green Book
Played by Oscar winner Peter Farrelly green book (2018) fame and set in the year 1967, the film stars Zac Efron as John “Chick” Donahue, a mustachioed slacker with a heavy northern Manhattan accent.
Donahue is dismayed by her sister’s anti-war protests and embarks on a merchant ship voyage to Vietnam to track down her old neighborhood friends and bring them some red-white-and-blue Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. But in typical war satire fashion, the real journey is the gradual evolution of Donahue’s own political approach to nationalism, the horrors of the war he witnesses every step of the way.
Director Peter Farrelly has had an odd career, making silly, lowbrow comedies with his younger brother Bobby in Hollywood and booking his first and final collaboration with him. dumb and Dumber (1994) and its 2014 sequel. Although Brothers was a bankable box office draw on a reasonable budget, their works rarely received critical acclaim, with the exception of the Cameron Diaz-starrer musical. There’s Something About Mary (nineteen ninety eight).
But luck changed for Peter when he branched out on his own green book (2018), eschewing toilet humor for more serious historical themes and pairing serial acting award winners Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali. Despite facing criticism from some circles for over-simplifying racial issues, green book More Fantasy Films From Under the Nose won the Oscar for Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor for Ali, as well as Best Original Screenplay for Peter and his co-writers.
Four years later, it looks like Peter and the Apple TV wanted to repeat that feat The Greatest Bear Run But both the movies are not in the same ballpark. For all his credible attempts to capture Donahue’s mannerisms, worldview, and rhythm, Efron lacks the seriousness of Mortensen, Ali Ya. catch 22 (2019) star Christopher Abbott. The limitations of dialogue writing don’t help matters in the slightest because the same one-line texts are repeated too often.
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yes i can see it once
Efron makes the film his own and is in parts relatively disappointing when he captures how the best of things often go untold, but he rarely manages to convey the range of emotions effectively, including a Except for a weak scene done fairly well, it takes what narrative needs. The final act of the film.
The supporting cast likewise makes the most of their fleeting screentime to support Efron, whether it’s Crowe as photojournalist Arthur Coates, Kevin K. as the traffic cop. Tran, Thai-hoa Lae as bartender Hien or a number of character actors who play US. military officer.
Each of them does just enough to become a very generic story that has been improved a million times, and attempts to balance Peter’s attempt to balance powerful but didactic battle commentary with lighter, funnier moments.
And these are the funny moments that make The Greatest Bear Run Ever Accessible and good-natured, especially its non-critical nationalism and the many setbacks in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that will never get old in terms of US foreign policy.
Given Peter’s prior success, The Greatest Bear Run Ever Ultimately doesn’t make the most of its unique true story potential and chooses to play it too straight. But if you log in to Apple TV and don’t expect the next four lions (2010) or mash (1970), you’ll enjoy it enough to watch it more than once.