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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