Soldiers of Fortune

Well, let’s be honest, I sometimes choose films just to see how bad they can be. It’s hard to believe how some actors seem to want to take it easy, not really wanting to act much, just staring down the barrel of a gun and aiming at someone as if they were going to shoot them. Soldiers of Fortune doesn’t have an entirely unknown cast. On the contrary, actors like Christian Slater, Sean Bean, Ving Rhames, Dominic Monaghan, and James Cromwell have all had their share of memorable roles. Just think of Ving Rhames’s part in Pulp Fiction. However, here they all seem to have agreed that it’s time to take a little break and make something that could vaguely resemble the concept of The Expendables. But they lack everything. Besides genuine action stars, there’s also a meaningful story that The Expendables had in both cases, some emotions beyond laughter, and, above all, action scenes that are worth something. Shooting from a distance is fun, but I enjoyed that more in Enemy at the Gates. A few rich guys decide to pay for some super adrenaline-fueled entertainment. They get transported to a location where they can shoot. They somehow don’t realize that shooting clay pigeons is not the same. They certainly have plenty of fun, but it doesn’t transfer to the viewer, who ends up closing their eyes and realizes an hour in that they’ve fallen asleep, and the closing credits are already rolling. The film cost eight million dollars, and I wonder how much could be produced for that kind of money in my country... It might not be better, but there would definitely be more films. (05.03.2013)