Monday, August 26, 2019

Mine (2016)



Movie Name/Year: Mine (2016)
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Thriller, War
Length: 107 minutes
Rating: Unrated
Production/Distribution: Mine Canarias, Safran Company, Sun Film, Roxbury, Universal Pictures
Directors: Fabio Guaglione, Fabio Resinaro
Writers: Fabio Guaglione, Fabio Resinaro
Actors: Armie Hammer, Tom Cullen, Annabelle Wallis, Clint Dyer, Geoff Bell, Juliet Aubrey, Inés Píñar Mille, Luka Peros

Blurb from IMDb: After a failed assassination attempt, a soldier finds himself stranded in the desert. Exposed to the elements, he must survive the dangers of the desert and battle the psychological and physical tolls of the treacherous conditions.


Selina’s Point of View:
Mine had some very good shots in it. There were moments where the scene or camera angles really got the feel of what was going on. If I think about it, I can see that the creators likely got a lot of inspiration from Lawrence of Arabia (1962). Not for the plot, but for the presentation. The manipulation of desert shots to heighten the loneliness of a scene was appreciated.

If my review was based on presentation alone, my score would be high. That said, there were flaws throughout the plot and script that are difficult for me to ignore.

The story could have been given a touch more thought. It was basically a retelling of 127 Hours (2010) from a military perspective and with a very unnecessary romantic story shoved in. In fact, the romance aspect became almost the whole reason for the film and really hurt my enjoyment. It cheapened the struggle of the main character and pulled me out of the dread that I was meant to be feeling.


It all ended up being very basic, with a twist at the end that I didn’t entirely hate – but that didn’t do much for the story either. I finished off watching it with a feeling of ‘meh’.

It’s a shame, because Armie Hammer (Call Me by Your Name, Sorry to Bother You, Wounds) did wonderfully with what he was given. I believed his performance. If the story had taken a different approach, Mine would have been carried to a new level because of him.

I wouldn’t steer people away from seeing Mine, but I also wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend it.


Cat’s Point of View:
I remember when I watched the trailer for Mine the first time that I was a bit conflicted with my desire to watch the movie. On one hand, I knew that the film was bound to be seriously intense. There aren’t many things in this world as stressful as standing on a landmine, after all. Military and mine encounters happen to be personal topics for me since my grandfather was a WWII vet who survived stepping on a mine in Germany – and kept his legs.

On the other hand, it seemed like the tunnel vision scope of the movie’s plot, as it focused on just a couple characters, had the risk of being too dry. (I swear I wasn’t trying to pun, but I’ll run with it.) How much action and interesting moments can they put into a story about a guy forcing himself to be glued to a single spot for fear of exploding?


The answer? A surprising amount.

While plot holes and production goofs abound, this fever dream of a film wasn’t as hard to watch as I was afraid it would be. Armie Hammer (Nocturnal Animals, Final Portrait, Hotel Mumbai) literally holds the line in the sand to keep an audience invested.

While war and military-themed movies aren’t generally my favorites at all, I have found myself watching a surprising number of them. I am curious to see how this film stacks up against the similar army-in-the-sandbox movies that were released in the same general timeframe. Until I can make those comparisons directly; I can only advise that while this movie wasn’t horrible, it could have been better. 


Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 17%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 43%
Metascore – 40/100
Metacritic User Score – 5.7/10
IMDB Score – 5.9/10
CinemaScore – None

Trust the Dice Parental Advisory Rating: R

Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 2.5/5
Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 3/5

Movie Trailer:

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