Buffalo Soldiers (2001)
Average Rating: 6.6/10
Reviews Counted: 113
Fresh: 82 | Rotten: 31
Overall, this caustic comedy hits more of its targets than it misses.
Average Rating: 6.2/10
Critic Reviews: 37
Fresh: 25 | Rotten: 12
Overall, this caustic comedy hits more of its targets than it misses.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 15,307
Movie Info
Australian director Gregor Jordan makes his sophomore effort with this tale about crooked U.S. soldiers based in Germany during the waning days of the cold war. Special Fourth Class soldier Elwood (Joaquin Phoenix) guards against the Soviets while on duty, and rips off the U.S. military while off duty. Handsome, calculating, and thoroughly amoral, Elwood runs a profitable black-market business that operates just below the official radar. He and his associates make drugs to sell to his fellow
Cast
-
Joaquin Phoenix
Pvt. Ray Elwood -
Anna Paquin
Robyn Lee -
Scott Glenn
Sgt. Robert K. Lee -
Ed Harris
Col. Wallace Berman -
Elizabeth McGovern
Mrs. Berman -
Gabriel Mann
Knoll -
Leon
Stoney -
Sheik Mahumd-Bey
Sgt. Saad -
Michael Peña
Garcia -
Glenn Fitzgerald
Hicks -
Dean Stockwell
Gen. Lancaster -
Haluk Bilginer
The Turk
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All Critics (125) | Top Critics (39) | Fresh (82) | Rotten (31) | DVD (19)
Eventually, the movie's rampant nihilism catches up with it.
Top CriticA scathing and very funny indictment of the U.S. military.
The characters, if not sympathetic, are at least interesting and brought to life with authenticity by the talented cast.
It's a well-done satire that only the thinnest of skins would find insulting.
Like its bored soldiers, this movie seems to play with volatile substances with not nearly enough respect for their meaning.
It's mostly a lurching, clumsy affair, a very poor man's Catch-22.
doing for the Cold War what Three Kings did for the first Gulf war - i.e. following the adventures of a small group of profiteering soldiers in order to satirise the self-interested smash-and-grab attitudes of US foreign policy.
Buffalo Soldiers is like M*A*S*H for the Reagan/Bush era generation that never knew a war like Vietnam. Both films offer a slap in the face to the establishment and display irreverent, savage satire.
...a dark, entertaining and thought-provoking film that could be recommended to pacifists and militarists alike.
May ultimately be a tad too calculated to truly shock, but manages to navigate between bad taste and Sgt. Bilko with skill and infectious glee.
It's not the dark comedy it wants to be -- that would be M*A*S*H with a more modern setting and more gruesome consequences -- but it's worth a look.
This blazingly irreverent comedy hits its machismo targets over and over again to the point of overkill.
Aims to be a parable of man's self-destructive nature, and at times it succeeds. Unfortunately, it pulls punches at exactly the times that it should be hitting the hardest.
The storyline becomes too idiotic and lacking enough funny or relevant moments to fly as a cutting edge satire.
It's a refreshingly scornful and scathing depiction of one soldier's pursuit of the American Dream.
Imagine if Robert Altman's M*A*S*H had been stifled back in 1970... and you can see the absurdity of the current climate.
You won't see too much red, white and blue on this DVD transfer of Buffalo Soldiers, but what little there is sure looks great.
Joltingly funny.
While Buffalo Soldiers has its moments, it stumbles along the way and fumbles the ending.
Director Gregor Jordan's attempts to crib the military-minded satire of Catch-22 or Robert Altman's M*A*S*H feel pointless and dishonest.
Clever without being funny, Buffalo Soldiers would like to be cynical and nasty, but its satire is blunted by a soft, chewy center.
Audience Reviews for Buffalo Soldiers
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Pvt. Ray Elwood: There really is no peace. There's always war, somewhere, with someone. And there are no winners or losers, either. Just those who are still around to fight another day.
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- Col. Wallace Berman: A thousand gallons of Mop and Glow? Do we really need that much?
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