I have no idea what the actor's name is, but the same guy seen in this movie, as the villager with the long hair, sunglasses and white shirt, who takes the pilot prisoner near the beginning of the movie, also has starred in a few awesome epic bug spray commercials from Thailand, most notably as a bad-ass cockroach. It's all I kept thinking about while watching this movie, in every scene he appeared in. I kept seeing him as the giant cockroach, in my head.:D

Poor acting and childish scenes. Script looks like its made by a teeneger.

Christian Bale makes friends and enemies alike in a sparsely-populated den of POWs at the onset of the Vietnam war. Undergoing another major transformation for the role, Bale lost a ton of weight to sell his emaciation, but as he's decked out in a big, baggy flight suit for the duration it's often difficult to see his worsening condition. There's a strange mood that lingers around the fringes of this one, something to take us out of the moment. Maybe it's Bale's weirdly sunny disposition: even when he's being drug at gunpoint through the streets of a rough jungle village, he's smiling politely at the dumbstruck townsfolk. It could be the simple, businesslike way the prisoners plot and execute their escape, which seems far too easy. Even the relationships between the captives, carried out via hushed tones and late-night chats amongst shackles, have a floaty, dreamlike quality about them that doesn't seem to fit the seemingly-horrible situation. As a picture it lacks conviction: that one moment for the audience to stand up and cheer, or to feel a sense of genuine tension about the cast's impending doom. I often felt removed from the action, as if I were reflecting upon it after the fact and glossing over the more grisly everyday challenges. It's nicely shot, with a genuine appreciation for the area's unique terrain and the helpless fury of its residents at a looming US intervention, but the story itself never moved me like I felt it should.

a true story. maybe thats why it kinda feels 'not enough' at most times. actors act well but nothing really developes or gets explored enough. this guy is the worse? ok lets see his cruelty. nope. is americans kinda bad for what they do for the war? shh we dont mention that stuff around here. another thing is how characters never address noticible things. they just come and go. maybe its intentional. for the viewer to take in what they see their own way. but it feels more like a 'doing less' or forgetting to act it out or write the acting to do so at the moment.

A strong and dark Vietnam War movie about the struggle of a US pilot captured by the enemy. An excellent performances by Bale an Zahn make toe movie work.