Movielogr

Rating: 5 stars

Tags

argentina commandos witch paranoia murder fog superstition

All movies seen on 07/08/2017

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The Squad (2011)

Directed by Jaime Osorio Marquez

Horror | War | Mystery

Most recently watched by sleestakk, noahphex

Overview

The air is thick with tension as a military squad proceeds to the foot of a mountain base, where they’re ordered to wait for backup and hold their position. The mountain is shrouded in fog and the men are exhausted. They’ve been fighting guerrillas on enemy turf for some time, and they’re worn down by the stress and anxiety of battle. The men don’t want to wait; they want to charge up the hill, fearing that their comrades in the base have been overrun by the guerrillas. The squad’s leader tries futilely to keep his men in line while dealing with his insolent second-in-command.

Length 100 minutes

Actors

Juan David Restrepo | Mateo Stevel | Mauricio Navas | Andrés Castañeda | Julio César Valencia | Juan Pablo Barragan | Daniela Catz | Andres Torres | Nelson Camayo | Alejandro Aguilar

Viewing History (seen 1 time)

Viewing Notes

In retrospect it probably wasn’t a good idea to follow up a masterpiece of cinema like THE LADY VANISHES with an indie movie but there you are.

I really liked the story of this but not much else. The cloying, close up camera work that is employed throughout 95% of the movie is stifling and frustrating. You never get much sense of where they are in context to their surroundings. I’m guessing the intention was to make the audience feel tension through that device, but instead I just found it frustrating.

Most of the actions of the soldiers make little to no sense, even when their motivations are given or hinted at. I spent a lot of time rolling my eyes. I could easily forgive that and still have enjoyed the film if it were shot better.

On top of that there were a couple of minor visual artifacts and glitches on the disc. Given that this was a newly purchased Blu-ray, that was a little irritating.

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