The new Edward Zwick production, “Courage Under Fire,” is a huge, expensive tribute to the bravery of women under fire in our Armed Forces. Well, not exactly.

Well, then, as it’s being pushed in its ads, this is the first Academy Award caliber film of the year. Great acting, sensational directing, and battle scenes you’ll never forget. No, that's not true either.

What we have is a confused Gulf War flick adopting the structure of “Rashomon,” the sentimentality of “Love Story,” and the souls of Hollywood hacks.

It’s January 1991. Our forces are in Iraq. It is night in the middle of a battle when Lt. Colonel Nathan Serling (Denzel Washington), an armored tank commander, gives the order to fire at an enemy tank. A big mistake. He has just killed one of our own.

Sent back to Washington where his higher-ups want to contain his error, Serling is reassigned to check out whether a deceased Capt. Karen Walden (Meg Ryan) deserves to be the first woman ever to receive the Medal of Honor. She gave her life for her country . . .or did she?

Serling thought this would be an easy task, one he could accomplish quickly even while drinking more and more from guilt over his “friendly fire” killing and its subsequent cover-up. He soon discovers otherwise. The soldiers under Walden’s command whom he must interview each have a different version of how she behaved as an officer. She was a hero. She was a coward. She cried from fear. No, she cried from tension. By the time the film is over, you’ll be crying from relief that you won’t have to see the silly reenactments of what “might” have happened one more time.

What’s almost more surprising than the atrocious script is how little time Meg Ryan has on screen. She gives a few orders, she holds her daughter, she smiles, and she grimaces. Her part could have been played by a paper cutout. . . as could Denzel Washington’s.

Washington, a superior actor who’s been choosing roles lately that are each worse than their predecessors, here has little to do than sit and listen with a stern face. The few times he has to act drunk or call his wife and mope, you are so thrilled he’s moving about the screen, you might be fooled into thinking he’s giving a great performance. He isn’t. This is a role that Pauly Shore on Melatonin could have carried off.

As for the “surprise” ending, if you don’t guess the finale ten minutes after Lou Diamond Phillips bares his jockstrap, shame on you. However, if you do figure out why Serling is himself a hero, you outfoxed me. I needed outside help for that one.

If only Zwick had used a straight narrative to tell the tale of a strong woman who left her friends, relatives and child behind to serve our country in a questionable war that we won with questionable results, he would have had a great drama on his hands. Why he didn’t is just as questionable.

DIRECTOR: Edward Zwick
CAST: Denzel Washington, Meg Ryan, Lou Diamond Phillips, Michael Moriarty, Matt Damon, Bronson Pinchot, Seth Gilliam, Regina Taylor, Zeljko Ivanek, Scott Glenn, Tim Guinee, Sean Astin, Sean Patrick Thomas, Kathleen Widdoes, Lucky Luciano, Amy Hathaway, Diane Baker, Bruce McGill
WRITER: Patrick Sheane Duncan
PRODUCERS: John Davis, Joseph M. Singer, David T. Friendly (Twentieth Century Fox)
CASTING: Mary Colquhoun
COSTUME DESIGNER: Francine Jamison-Tanchuck
MUSIC COMPOSED BY: James Horner
FILM EDITOR: Steven Rosenblum
PRODUCTION DESIGNER: John Graysmark
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Roger Deakins, ASC/BSC
MILITARY TECHNICAL ADVISOR: Rory J. Aylward
HAIRSTYLIST FOR MR. WASHINGTON: Larry M. Cherry
DIALECT COACH FOR MS. RYAN: Jessica Drake