Rescue Dawn

Rescue Dawn ***1/2

Directed by Werner Herzog
Written by Werner Herzog

Starring:
Christian Bale as Dieter
Steve Zahn as Duane
Jeremy Davies as Gene
Craig Gellis as Corporal
GQ as Farkas
Zach Grenier as Squad Leader
Pat Healy as Norman
Toby Huss as Spook

126 Minutes(Rated PG-13 for some sequences of intense war violence and torture. )
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"Rescue Dawn" is an engrossing, realistic, and very emotional story of survival by usual documentary film-maker Werner Herzog. Herzog has made a narrative this time, and made two casting choices-one of them obvious and one of them originally questionable. It was clear that Christian Bale was worthy of the part, as he has proven himself many many times. He is one of the finest actors around at the moment. The second casting choice was a little strange. It's not often that you see Steve Zahn in a movie, and its even less that you see Steve Zahn in a good movie. He's has his exceptions, like "Riding in Cars with Boys," but I often just see him as the goofy friend in "Saving Silverman." And yet in "Rescue Dawn" he's proven that he could be just as riveting, just as heartbreaking, and just as brilliant as Bale and beyond.It's really a revealing piece of work.

"Rescue Dawn" takes place during the Vietnam War. We focus on Dieter, a US Fighter Pilot that may not agree with the war, but uses it as a way to fly-his life's biggest ambition. While on his first mission he is shot down over enemy territory and finds himself alone and abandoned. He is captured by a group of soldiers that wish Dieter to sign a piece of paper that declares the United States enemies of Vietnam. He refuses, and he is brought to a cabin where he is with a group of other captures-some of which have been there for a few years. There is the constipated Duanne, the creepy gene, among others, but Dieter decides to put his escape plan into action right away. Using things in his pocket as well as things that he picks up off the ground, Dieter does not plan on being in the camp for a long time, and decides that if he is going to go, than all of the other captured are going to go with him.

"Rescue Dawn" is realistic, and Herzog uses his documentary film-making techniques to his advantage. He knows how to work a camera better than anyone, and the shaking camera technique actually has a use here in making us seem like an observer. Like his last film, the somewhat narrative "The Wild Blue Yonder" Herzog allows you to bask on images that he found intriguing, and at times it was like watching a documentary as we followed these men in the woods. It's difficult to watch at times, and we lose characters without much remorse. The final half, which focuses on the escape itself, is harsh and brutal, and it is clear that Herzog has made one of the most effective Vietnam films ever. The film is centered by a great lead by Bale, and an even better co-lead by Zahn. In the second half the two of them work mostly as a team, and I wish that Zahn would do more work like this as opposed to work like "Saving Silverman." I wonder what attracted Herzog to Zahn at first, because he does not exactly have the most impressive resume-I'm surprised that Herzog would have even see "Daddy Day Care" or "National Security." But it was a great choice in the long run. "Rescue Dawn" is intense and riveting, and certainly the most exciting film of the summer-an insult to others like "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," and "Transformers."