Search - Tunnel Rats on DVD

Not a UB hater, just a tedious and bad film

Steve Kuehl | Ben Lomond, CA | 06/30/2009

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I do not jump on the bandwagon either way on Uwe's work, if there is a good film I will review it accordingly. Simply, this was a painfully tedious tunnel film, beginning to end. Will try cover in this two sections: film and features.

As far as the film goes, there was an earnest attempt at recreating the tunnels, jungle isolation and military equipment. The tedious amount of character discussion leading up to the tunnel infiltration can be a killer (32 minutes of it before the first lid is popped), then you have to stomach over 48 minutes of crawling, digging, repetitively bad writing and a non-existent command structure. There are several outdoor battle scenes quite reminiscent of Predator in the amount of M-60s being swung around one-handed, with believability made even more absent as soldiers stand by as they are blown up by their own planes (for a couple minutes mind you - I figure they should have run after the 1st bomb, or maybe the 20th, but anyway...).

The special features contain some nice tidbits for Uwe fans. There is a 14 minute interview of Uwe stating his reasons why the US lost the war in Vietnam and why the film exists. A 10 minute making-of details the thinking and locations of this film (the tunnels were actually all on a stage - not in the jungle as stated by another reviewer here). The best material comes in the form of Uwe and the other actors admitting there was no script - they all wrote their own parts and winged the whole thing. 6 minutes of rightfully deleted scenes rounds out the last feature.

A couple more things - Uwe states that the soldiers are "responsible for the war" and on more than one occasion stands by his questionable feeling that the main reason the US lost the war was because of the tunnels only...hmmm. BIG SPOILER: the worst part of this whole mess was the entire film becomes pointless when every single person from both sides is killed - makes you feel like the whole time investment in any character was moot.

Once more - I am not a hater of Uwe, but this was a very long, boring, poorly written production."

Uwe Boll goes to Vietnam

N. Durham | Philadelphia, PA | 07/03/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Uwe Boll is the kind of director that you can't help but love to hate. No matter how many universally panned films he makes, he just keeps going, and keeps churning them out one right after the other, and we still keep watching them. Personally, there's nothing I like better than to have a laugh at one of a number of Uwe's trainwrecks (House of the Dead, Alone in the Dark, BloodRayne; c'mon, you know the list), but lately, the master of error has churned out some flicks that actually haven't been half bad with Postal and Seed. Tunnel Rats falls into this category as well, as this time around Uwe steps away from the video game adaptation world and focuses on a too often forgotten part of the Vietnam war, of which tunnel digging played a pivotal role in. Boll favorite Michael Pare stars as the lieutenant of a group of these soldiers, as Boll offers a bleak and unflinching look at the Vietnam war. What it lacks in terms of characterizations, Tunnel Rats more than makes up for in keeping the viewer compelled, which is a small miracle in itself. Not to mention that Boll has a keen eye for carnage here, even if the camerawork and editing isn't always as good as one may hope. Still, by the time the end credits roll, you'll probably be left thinking just what was the point of the whole thing, but at the same time, Tunnel Rats remains a surprisingly solid, violent, and gritty war flick that is worth giving a shot."

If you are thinking of this as a gift, Dont

T. C. Ellwood | 12/23/2009

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I wont tell you how it ends, because I could not stomach the movie for more than 28 minutes.
It looked to me like a poorly done high school production of "hey kids, lets make a war movie".
When I read that there was no script, that all the lines were improve, it explained a lot.
No plot, no direction, no character build, all in all a terrible waste of time and film.
Please, Please, do not waste even a Netfilx space on the tripe."

Refund!

Lucas Mcfarlane | 10/10/2009

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Possibly the worst movie I and my fellow viewers have had the unpleasure of watching! Bad acting, bad effects, bad storyline! Anyone who buys this movie will regret it, I would regret it if it was only 50cents, actually the 50cent movie is a masterpiece compared with this and that is saying alot!"