Letters from Iwo Jima - Movie Review

In 1945, World War II was in its last stages, and U.S. forces were planning to take on the Japanese on a small island known as Iwo Jima. While the island was mostly rock and volcanoes, it was of key strategic value and Japan's leaders saw the island as the final opportunity to prevent an Allied invasion. Lt. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi was put in charge of the forces on Iwo Jima; Kuribayashi had spent time in the United States and was not eager to take on the American army, but he also understood his opponents in a way his superiors did not, and devised an unusual strategy of digging tunnels and deep foxholes that allowed his troops a tactical advantage over the invading soldiers. While Kuribayashi's strategy alienated some older officers, it impressed Baron Nishi, the son of a wealthy family who had also studied America firsthand as an athlete at the 1932 Olympics. As Kuribayashi and his men dig in for a battle they are not certain they can win - and most have been told they will not survive - their story is told both by watching their actions and through the letters they write home to their loved ones, letters that in many cases would not be delivered until long after they were dead.

After seeing Flags of our Fathers, I was really looking forward to seeing this film. Both were directed by Clint Eastwood and produced by Steven Spielberg with each film focusing on one side of the American/Japanese conflict during the end of World War II. Therefore, having loved Flags of our Fathers I thought it would be interesting to see the Japanese side of the war. However, I was disappointed that it wasn't as good of a film and was actually pretty boring. I think the idea of the film was better than the execution. A lot of the film seemed to focus on the planning of the attack rather than the actual fighting which meant there was a lot of talk, not action - which is significant for a film in Japanese with English subtitles (lots of reading). There's only so much talk about digging holes in the ground a person can handle and I found my limit. Also, I thought there would be some great special features since it was a 2 disc set, but there was just the status quo. Maybe I built it up too much in my mind, but I was just left with a disappointing feeling after the movie was over.

Rating: 2.5 of 5 stars
Would I watch it again: No
Starring: Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Tsuyoshi Ihara

The opinions expressed are those of me, myself and I.