A us fighter pilots epic struggle of survival after being shot down on a mission over laos during the vietnam war. Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 06/10/2008 Starring: Christian Bale Run time: 126 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Werner Herzog

In the tradition of The Great Escape and The Deer Hunter, Rescue Dawn is Werner Herzog's take on the pulse-pounding POW genre. Unlike most such efforts, however, his isn't just based on a true story, it's a remake of his 1997 documentary Little Dieter Needs to Fly. German-born Dieter Dengler (Christian Bale, who first made his mark in Steven Spielberg's prison camp drama Empire of the Sun) has longed to pilot a plane since he was a boy. When he joins the Navy during the Vietnam War, he gets his wish. Then he's shot down over Laos. Though he survives, Dengler is captured by the Pathet Lao. Through his internment, he meets Duane Martin (Steve Zahn in his finest performance), with whom he becomes fast friends. While Dengler is arrogant and resourceful, Martin is patient and humble. With Dengler's assistance, the prisoners escape, but the untamed wilderness turns out to be just as dangerous (cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger ably captures its cruel beauty). Those who've seen Little Dieter know how this tale ends. Suffice to say, Herzog's reenactment makes for rousing entertainment. If the film has a flaw, it's that the rah-rah finale plays like something from out of a mainstream sports movie. That quibble aside, the actors, including Jeremy Davies as a delusional campmate and Toby Huss as a fellow flyer, are aces. And Herzog, who's been concentrating on nonfiction, like Grizzly Man, proves he can direct a Hollywood-style action epic with the best of 'em. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

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Little Dieter Needs to Fly

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The story this is based upon is great, and in fact demands a movie be made...but then...they made this movie. I am a Bale fan, so when the dialogue sucked, that was not good news for Bale. Worse, Bale has to give the character some character...expressions, accent, etc, which was really awful. Just looks like he is overacting. Zahn is great.

It's too bad that such a courageous story got this crappily executed film. There's a reason you hadn't heard of this Christian Bale film...

Very good movie. Quite a story and Christain Bale is such a great actor to play this part in it.

You probably won't remember this movie the week after next, but as you watch it, it's fine entertainment, based, as noted, on a true POW story. The actors are uniformly good, and the script, even if you've seen things like it before - "The Deer Hunter" - is intelligent. The suspense works well, and the jungle scenery is fascinating. I expected a loud shoot-em-up based on the dvd cover, and was pleasantly surprised to encounter more of a psychological survival tale. It was filmed from ending to beginning, so the actors could start out emaciated, and gradually regain weight. Watch it.

This movie was specifically requested by my brother as the film upon which we would build our Blu-Ray collection. We watched it the first night we had gotten our Playstation 3 and HDMI cable. That was also the last time we watched it.

Visually, we couldn't have picked a better movie to inaugurate ourselves into the world of Hi-Def films. Herzog's cinematography is exceptional. The colors and details are so arresting and intense that, honestly, it is almost overwhelming for a moment. Unfortunately, the sightseeing doesn't get to last very long, as once Christian Bale's Deiter Dengler gets captured, the tone shifts visually to the muddy prison camp for much of the rest of the film.

I wish I had more to say about this movie, but unfortunately there's not much more to say: Christian Bale's performance is engaging, but on par with what we'd expect from him. The real star performance comes from Steve Zahn, who finally reveals that he can act. He performs well beyond what one would expect from the guy that starred opposite Jack Black in Saving Silverman, and if I had to pick one real reason for seeing this movie, it would be his performace. Ultimately, though, the plot drags through most of the second act, and while it's not a bad film by any stretch of the term, it's just not a movie I've had a strong desire to watch again.

I would say that fans of Christian Bale should get this movie, but if you are a big Bale fan, you probably already have it.

My wife and I watched this movie but it wasn't that good at all. The seller sent it to us very fast, but after watching the movie I wouldn't watch it again.