Sand Castle (2017)

The greatest movie ever made..!

Excellent, a Must See

Brilliant and touching

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

I don't even know what I would have chosen as a summary line, but reading another review, one from someone who at least claims to have been in the service and pointing out things that he thought were inaccurate, made me think, yeah that's what I should write. And while we all know that Fiction is a big part of movies, when they do portray something that actually happened (or happens) we the viewers do tend to take it a bit as a given, that what we see, is what happened.If you can shut off those thoughts in the first place you can watch a war movie, that does not seem to shy away from controversy. It does paint a picture that some may call cliche, but the actors make it feel real. While we don't get deeply into their characters, we can see through the eyes of the main protagonist, his emotions and what this must do to ones psyche and mind. It's not easy to watch and it has flaws, but it is worth watching

Sand CastleA movie that is based on true events doesn't always payoff and in regards to Sand Castle I believe this film is a mixed bag. The story of American soldiers in Iraq that have to replace a damaged water supply to a small village doesn't sound very interesting on paper. It isn't the basic premise of the film that makes this movie just about watchable. It is the fact that soldiers where met with such hatred and obstacles. After all they were just trying to help. As a character coldly points out, "You Americans damaged the water supply, you fix it!" Trying to recruit local people to help with the restoration was unsuccessful and those who did risked being murdered. Sand Castle is a slow movie with emphasis on characterisation. The problem is that the overall film fails to grip the audience. Even a talented actor like Nicholas Hoult struggles with the given material. There's a brief appearance from Superman himself Henry Cavill who complete with beard and buzz cut is only just recognisable. He probably has the best line in the movie when he tells a uncooperative Sheik what he hopes will happen to him, then asks the interpreter not to translate. Director Fernando Coimbra does an adequate job of conveying the heat and harsh environment whilst writer Chris Roessener manages to channel the soldiers desperation of not wanting to be there. Roessener also demonstrates effectively that the people of Iraq didn't want the Americans to be there too. "Help us to help you!" is a line used by the American soldiers to no effect.The film starts out very promising with Hoults character purposely trapping his own hand in a vehicle door to get himself out of duty. Sadly the film descends in terms of interest after this making me believe that the true life events experienced by the writer could have been portrayed more effectively on screen. Sand Castle isn't a bad film, it's just not a great one either. It sustains the audiences interest, but only just.

A well written, directed and produced , war film...Casting was spot on with several British (Cavill, Hoult and Flangan ) turning in strong performances. All other cast five stars. Theme music excellent. The battle scenes were fairly accurate , weaponry and tactics passable. I was pleasantly surprised and recommend this piece ....

My initial reaction to seeing this low-key but powerful film was along the lines of "wow, that's some intense stuff...and fairly well acted". I also liked the premise of it, the basic plot line. However, there are a number of issues with the film.\First off, since it is supposedly set in the very early phase of the Iraq occupation (2003), there would not yet have been this open Sunni-Shiia hostility and the well-organized guerilla resistance/terrorism by local malcontents. These incidents were only starting to crop up in 2004 and really came to the fore in 2005, 2006. Second detail is the low level of security that the US soldiers seem to deploy while trying to work with random locals. For example, there's no way that a suicide bomber with a cooler full of explosives would have smuggled himself into an actual construction site. I was also left wondering why the main protagonist was sent back to the States and effectively relieved of duty, as opposed to the other guys. It may have been left undefined for the artistic purposes but in a real army setting, there would have been a debrief. Is he seen as suffering from a kind of PTSD or as having gone a bit rogue, or is it a case of "mission not well handled"? The feeling it left was one that army cadres were feeling a bit sorry for this college kid and were shipping him to where he could do no harm or come in harm's way. There is this kind of a rush to wrap up the script and end the story, which rubbed me the wrong way.As an allegory or a stylized cautionary tale, though, this is powerful - and intimate - film because it does get inside the heads of some characters and because the characters are compelling. The difficulties of working with the Iraqis and generally in an alien cultural environment were portrayed in an interesting way.This is not a fast-paced, high body count war action flick. But some of the action sequences are intense. Lots of mixed feelings about this one.