Review: Rescue Dawn

This is a surprising movie in a lot of ways. A Hollywood-type movie directed by German weirdo/genius Werner Herzog, for one. A great, nuanced performance by Christian Bale playing not an action hero but a regular guy who probably believes that he is an action hero. Another great performance by Steve Zahn, one of my favorite character actors, playing counter to his normal comic sidekick role. An incredible, based-on-a-true story tale of survival and hardship. This movie is only marred by a coda that is, if representative of what really happened, staged in such a way that it comes off as supremely cheesy, betraying a lot of the feelings the viewer had developed for the main character.

Worth a watch if you like: POW movies, survival against the wilderness movies, Christian Bale, Steve Zahn, or Werner Herzog.