This 2019 movie follows an Australian artillery company during a short period in the Vietnam war. A lot of people don’t know that Australia had involvement in this war. You could almost call this movie Australia’s Platoon (1986) (95 potatoes)
Speaking of the movie Platoon (1986), Danger Close felt fairly derivative of this film. Some scenes were shot and executed very similarly in fact. Almost too similarly. By the way, “danger close” is a term used when calling in ordinance from a plane or artillery battery that is close to friendly forces. Many of you folks already knew this but just clarifying, for what it’s worth.
I really wanted to like this movie. There are barely any movies about Vietnam that I don’t like. The only one that comes to mind is “Tigerland” (2000). BTW, Tigerland is a steaming pile. Funny story: about 25 years ago, I was hanging out with my buddy who was (and still is) active duty Special Forces for the U.S. Army (Green Berets). When “Tigerland” finished playing on his TV, he silently retrieved the DVD from the DVD player and then walked out to the parking lot. He then laid the DVD on the cement and backed over it with his Jeep. LOL
Back to Danger Close. It wasn’t a bad movie. Some things really bugged me about it, and here they are:
- Within the first few minutes you see Vietnamese soldiers charging with their AK-47’s and instead of using blanks for the rifles (which make the shots look real), the production team and/or director decided to add in CGI effects. So, these actors had to pretend there was recoil on the rifle. A total shit show.
- Though the practical artillery explosives on the set were great, they also decided to CGI in bullet strikes and generic yellow tracers for every round fired. Ugh
- The acting of some of the guys in battle scenes was bad at times and there were clear cases of over-acting.
- Dragged on too long, ending should have come a bit sooner. A director/editor has to know when to wrap it up and not let it drag on.
Positives:
- The military gear and vehicles were all accurate to the time.
- Some actors did a brilliant job in the face-to-face scenes and dialogue.
- As I mentioned earlier, the practical explosives were very good.
- The editing, especially during the battle scenes was good.
- Have never seen a movie so heavily focused on field artillery, and I really liked that they did.
Conclusion
I’m a sucker for war movies, especially those involving Vietnam. But I cannot say I liked this movie. There was just too much wrong with it. It was distracting. But, it wasn’t bad either. It is watchable at least. For this reason, I give it a 60 potato rating (out of 100).