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Courage Under Fire |  | Director: Edward Zwick
Actors: Denzel Washington, Meg Ryan, Lou Diamond Phillips, Michael Moriarty, Matt Damon
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Category: DVD
List Price: $9.98
Buy Used: $1.48
as of 2/10/2010 04:29 EST details
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New (7) Used (22) from $1.48
Seller: awshlp
Rating:  61 reviews
Sales Rank: 134892
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 117 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
UPC: 024543010845
EAN: 0024543010845
ASIN: B0007CILW0
Theatrical Release Date: July 12, 1996
Release Date: December 26, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com essential video
A year after a devastating friendly fire incident during the Gulf War, Lt. Colonel Nathaniel Serling (Denzel Washington) is in a Washington, D.C., desk job assigned the rudimentary task of overseeing a Medal of Honor candidate who died in the war. However, the case and soldier in question are a political hot potato--Captain Karen Walden (Meg Ryan) is America's first female soldier to be killed in combat. Serling soon finds discrepancies in the case of a downed Medevac helicopter in the rocky Kuwait territory. What unfolds in flashback are several versions of Walden's tactics (à la Kurosawa's Rashomon) to rescue the soldiers and survive the downing. As with Glory, Director Edward Zwick's cast of unknown and famous faces always comes off as the real article. Walden's crew is especially convincing. Matt Damon as the medic comes off as the giddy scaredy-cat when telling his story to Washington. In battle he's a flawed, humorous soldier. The most surprising work in the movie is done by Lou Diamond Phillips (as the group's gunman), whose career had been headed to straight-to-video oblivion. Then there's Ryan. She has done well with dramatic work in the past (When a Man Loves a Woman, Flesh and Bone) but has never been able to escape the romantic-comedy image. With dyed hair, a light accent, and the dramatics of the situation, Ryan finally has an enduring dramatic film. Even though she has half of Washington's screen time, her brave and ultimately haunting performance makes Courage something special, right down to its curious but rewarding final scene. --Doug Thomas
Product Description
DVD in enhanced widescreen!
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 61
 Courage Under Fire January 5, 2010
Arnita D. Brown (USA)
While serving in the Persian Gulf at Al Bathra, Lt. Colonel Nathanial Serling gives the order to fire at what he believes is an enemy T-54 tank and is horrified to learn that he's destroyed one of his own tanks, killing several of Serling's own men. As the military conducts a hushed investigation into this incident of "friendly fire" Serling is reassigned to a job in Awards and Decorations at the Pentagon and ordered to review Capt. Karen Walden's candidacy for a Medal of Honor, to be awarded to the Medevac pilot for her "courage under fire." The honor, unhappily, is to be posthumous. This is an excellent movie, partly because of the captivating and moving story, and partly because of the fine acting by Denzel Washington and Meg Ryan.
Innovative, compelling war picture August 11, 2009
One-Line Film Reviews (Easton, MD)
The Bottom Line:
Easily the best Gulf War movie(if you don't count Three Kings), Courage Under Fire features one of Denzel Washington's better performances, a couple of very convincing combat sequences, and an innovative structure which works decidedly in the film's favor; I walked into this movie expecting something Hollywood-ish and formulaic and emerged impressed by the movie Zwick crafted.
3.5/4
 Decent Film But Never Really Sucked Me In July 6, 2009
Zachary Koenig (Fergus Falls, MN)
There are two primary reasons why I chose to recently watch this film: First, the fact that Denzel Washington is such an incredible, impassionate actor. Second, that Washington's movies often serve as vehicles to stoke his creative talents. He feeds the script with his passion, and his passion can take a decent story and turn it into an emotional one. However, "Courage Under Fire" failed to hook me in on both of those counts.
Let's begin with the plot: Basically, Denzel plays a former military commander from Desert Storm (with a pretty big skeleton in his closet) who is now in charge of investigating the applicants for the prestigious "Medal of Honor" military award. While researching this particular case, however, "Denzel" stumbles upon a few little inconsistencies that, once they begin to add up, point to a larger cover-up at work. The story is told through the flash-backs of all the people that "Denzel" speaks with while doing his detective work, so to speak. Of course, as is human recollection, each person has a bit of a different "take" on the subject...but is it really just bad memories or something more sinister?
Though that may sound like a very interesting plot, to me it fell flat because it tried to do too many things at one time when it could have just focused on one it two. It tries to be an action picture, but there aren't enough war scenes to justify that characterization. It tries to be a mystery, but that doesn't really work because the viewer never really (at least I didn't) figures out exactly what went on in the central point of conflict. Finally, the film also tries to be a morality play, yet not even that tugs at the heartstrings (not the dramatic ones, at least) since it is so stoic and military-esque in its approach.
Perhaps the biggest failure in this film, though, was the missed opportunities (or maybe it was just bad casting) for Denzel Washington. As a performer, he is at his peak when he is given the opportunity to emote wildly and passionately for a cause he strongly believes in. However, this film takes on such a rigid, non-dramatic tone that Denzel never gets to show that incredible acting style. One only one occasion does he start to get heated, but that approach is quickly squashed and the procedural stuff rolls on.
Thus, I really can't recommend this film to fans of Washington's work, or to fans of military mystery/thrillers. It is just too procedural and droll to really hook you into the whole experience. A 2.5 star rating would have been my optimal choice, but there is just enough solid acting and some compelling material to give it a boost up rather than down. I much more highly recommend the film "High Crimes", as it covers some of the same basic dramatic material but does so in a much more high-energy, dramatic fashion.
Courage Under Scrutiny May 31, 2009
Bonnie Brody (Fairbanks, Alaska)
I enjoyed this movie a lot. I would have given it a '5' except that the complexity of the plot made it difficult to follow at times.
The story is about an officer (Denzel Washington) investigating whether another officer (Meg Ryan) should be awarded a posthumous medal of honor. Denzel has just returned from Desert Storm where he has tragically killed some Americans in error by friendly fire. He is also suffering from a drinking problem. The powers that be want him to rubber stamp the medal for Meg Ryan but Denzel is intent in examining everything down to the last bit. This is where the story gets very interesting. As he examines the other soldiers who were in the helicopter with Meg Ryan, each has a different story of what happened. Denzel realizes that something is amiss. Either memories are way lapsed or there are secrets and lies withheld.
How Denzel gets to the bottom of things and figures out the truth of what happened on that fateful day that took Meg Ryan's life is the gist of this story. I also liked the fact that this is a role out of character for Meg Ryan and she did very well with it.
Speedy deliveriy May 19, 2009
SMART SHOPPER (CLEVELAND,TN)
CD was recieved sooner than expected, product was in good condition as described. Was packaged well.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 61
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