USS INDIANAPOLIS: MEN OF COURAGE = A-
Inspiring, educational, decent on historical accuracy, this film was one I found to be enjoyable. I felt that Nicolas Cage gave a solid performance. I wouldn't call it his best, but I thought he did well. Other performances were good as well, although at times contrived.
I appreciated the relationships throughout the film, although I felt some of the more interesting ones didn't get as much attention as they could have. The racial tension between the two black men & the one white man was quite intriguing. I felt the most rewarding part of the film was when the three of them celebrated their survival together in the hospital.
Only two complaints about the film. I didn't at all appreciate the deliberate plagiarism taken from PEARL HARBOR. There's an assortment of ways they could have handled the relationship between two of the supporting characters in their love triangle. Their was no need to carbon copy.
I also found the accounts taken from the real life soldiers to be quite interesting & wish some of their stories of fighting back against the sharks would have been shown in the film. They talked of how they'd find blunt objects & jam them into the sharks eyes. I would have liked to have seen that portrayed on the film. Instead it gave off a vibe that they just laid their completely helpless with no fight.
Which leads me to my final praise of the film. I did enjoy the actual footage & how it was explained that the captain received the proper exoneration many years later. I enjoyed the photographs.
