Robert J. Maxwell I'd gotten the impression that this was just another autobiographical study of the hardships of an Army training camp, rather like "Jarhead." Instead, it's an interesting piece about suffering, responsibility, and testosterone.It's 1971. Colin Farrell and Mathew Davis are friends, sort of, just out of basic training, now in infantry school in the Louisiana. The final week is spent at an isolated camp which replicates the conditions of Vietnam, called Tigerland. Soldiers speak of Tigerland in hushed, frightened voices.I don't know why they dread it so much because, as it turns out, except for one psychopathic maniac, it's not that much worse than infantry school. The sergeants should foul curses at the men, shove them, kick them, beat them to the ground and literally make them eat dirt.Plaudits for the photography, the casting, the performances, and the direction, which, thank Bog, doesn't use a wobbling camera except for a few minutes during a live fire exercise. No CGIs and no slow motion action. Nobody runs away from an exploding fireball. Nothing explodes. What a relief.The plot is an amalgam of elements familiar from other stories. There is the non-conformist who invites disaster by not cowering like everyone else -- "From Here To Eternity," "Cool Hand Luke." The soldier who is a natural leader of men but continually turns down responsibility -- "To Hell And Back," "Fixed Bayonets." The main message of the movie shouldn't raise anyone's hackles. Vietnam was a pointless shedding of blood, but it's not the Army's fault. They do everything possible to prepare the men for combat, even if it looks (and is) sadistic. The war was foolish but the men in uniform aren't to blame. How can it be wrong?

bkoganbing It is certainly interesting to write a review about a film that took place where I actually resided for two months. In September of 1971 when this film is set, your's truly was doing his basic training at Fort Polk, Louisiana. I did get to the North Fort at one point in my training where the infamous Tigerland was located. In fact Tigerland was a nickname given to the whole northern part of the army base.I was doing the basic training to be a weekend warrior and avoid Vietnam. But I saw so many of the kids who were just like the ones portrayed in the film it was actually a rather nerve wrecking old home week. In 1971 everyone except the policy makers in Washington knew that this was going to end when as Senator George Aiken declared, we said we won and then went home. And of course the South Vietnamese government we were protecting would fold like a napkin.By that time the army was scraping the bottom for soldier material and you can see it in the company of men that are in Tigerland. This is where more soldiers shipped for Vietnam than any other place in the nation. The Louisiana swamps best approximated the climate conditions of Vietnam.This particular company has a real odd ball in it with Colin Farrell. He's doing his best to get out of the army, but the army just won't oblige him. So he's waging his own war against them by becoming a 'barracks lawyer' and getting others out. And he's driving the officers and NCOs quite nuts doing it.I would rate Tigerland a lot higher because there is much I liked about the film. It was not shot at Fort Polk, but in places that gave you feel of the place. What I remember best about it was rain and mud. In that summer of 1971 it rained nearly every single day I was there. But the rain and sometimes it would come a few times a day. Would be a sudden downpour, maybe at most 20 minutes then it would cool off and then resume being muggy. And the ground couldn't absorb it fast enough so it was always muddy. You did your best work in that brief period after rain stopped it was then actually decent enough for normal activities.What I couldn't quite grasp was Colin Farrell's motivations for what he was doing. I blame that on the writer and also the director.As for the other players the best in the cast was Thomas Guiry playing this poor sad sack kid from the Louisiana bayous. I met a few just like him, he stopped his formal education at the 6th grade. It was a touching performance on Guiry's part.So here's to Fort Polk, not a place I recommend, but sometimes a place which is needed to train our soldiers. It got a good film, but not a great one in its honor.

Spikeopath Tigerland was the name of a U.S. Army training camp located at Fort Polk, Louisiana. Tagged as the second worst part of the Earth, it was a recreation of the Vietnamese jungle and was used to prepare American soldiers for the hellish terrain they were soon to be fighting in. Directed by Joel Schumacher, Tigerland stars Colin Farrell as Private Roland Bozz, a reluctant recruit to the war effort who upsets his superiors by having a canny knack for exploiting loop holes in the rule book. However, it's evident that Bozz has leadership qualities, but can the officers convince him he is born to lead? By the time of Tigerland's release, the Vietnam movie had apparently run its course. The announcement that Joel Schumacher was to delve into the conflict for his next movie was met with less than enthusiastic responses. This was after all the director who had not too long prior reduced the once darkly watchable Batman franchise to comedy campy ham overdrive. Alarm bells were further starting to go off when it was revealed that it was to be a short low budget shoot of 28 days, with a cast of unknowns and filmed in grainy 16 millimetre. Yet two things were forgotten by his many detractors. One was that Schumacher had showed himself capable of guiding a young vibrant cast to high levels of watch-ability (The Lost Boys), and two, that he had made Falling Down in the early 90s, thus tricky and darker edged material was not beyond him. Tigerland is a fine film, there is no actual conflict to observe other than the interactions between Bozz, his fellow squadies and his superiors. This is more boot camp drama than a film about military engagements. But the impact is much the same as our group of young men prepare for a fate that doesn't exactly have favourable odds; their respective reasons for being there in the first place containing varying degrees of bravado or disbelief. To which, much to his initial bemusement, Bozz simultaneously becomes a beacon of hope to many and a figure for revilement. The out-shot of this is that Tigerland winds up an expertly crafted movie, one that is propelled by great acting and one that quietly sneaks up on you and cloaks you in sadness. Schumacher is not the sole reason for why the film works so well though, he had some quality help. Ross Klavan and Michael McGruther's screenplay rises above the character clichés that exist in every army training camp based movie. Helped enormously by Klavan drawing on his real life experiences in the army, Tigerland doesn't hurtle towards its climax (a climax that is understated and poignant), it takes its time, characters are formed and with the then unknown Farrell on stupendously bewitching form, it's as engaging as a Vietnam film gets. This in spite of the grim look of the piece as Matthew Libatique's cinematography strips away vibrant colours and uses murky greys and greens to put the viewer right in there with them at boot camp. The look, the feel and the story all pull together nicely, making Tigerland fit to be mentioned in the same breath as those popular Vietnam movies from the previous decades. 8/10

dougdoepke This appears to be a message movie, but the message gets lost in an unsteady screenplay that can't seem to decide where it's going. Too bad, because the Boz character is fascinating, while several scenes are powerfully done. One problem is that the time and place is very specific, Fort Polk, 1971. By that time, the Vietnam war had become highly politicized even among rank and file soldiers, while peace symbols sprouted everywhere. The military was facing a growing mutiny as discipline was breaking down both at home and abroad.Now the logical thing would be to connect Boz's rebelliousness to the anti-war movement. That would explain what otherwise remains vague-- his reasons for bucking the system. However, there are only passing references to the crisis then facing the military professionals. Thus, a very politicized period is de-politicized, leaving Boz's rebellion with a purely personal and unexplained attitude. So, as the rather incredible ending shows and despite his previous behavior, Boz never had anything principled against the war or even the military (though he understands its de- humanizing methods). Instead, he responds to the demands of friendship (Paxton) and an unselfish desire not to have someone else risk death in his place. Thus, he emerges at the end as something of a mythologized Christ figure which is why the script leaves his fate so uncertain. As a result, what started out as a message movie ends rather confusingly as a character study. At the same time, the anti-military message morphs abruptly into a pro-war apology to the training sergeant-- a disastrous move for the film as a whole.There's another shift that undercuts the cumulative impact. The original conflict is that between Boz and the army as he skirts regulations, disrespects his superiors, and returns recruits to civilian life who should be returned. But halfway through, the conflict morphs into a struggle between Boz and the unbalanced Wilson. The trouble is that this personal feud isolates the conflict causing the story to lose further focus such that no clear message or impact emerges at the end. This is a movie of parts, whose sum-total unfortunately undermines the whole.I suspect the movie had either limited theatrical release or went right to cable. That's too bad, because with clearer concepts the result could have been memorable. Several of the scenes are really strong, especially the personal confessions. They're movingly done and by relatively unknown actors. Also the filming techniques (staging, camera set-ups, etc.) are excellent and help compensate for the muddled script. Unfortunately, however, they can't salvage the basic flaws in how the story develops.