Gunner Palace

OK, you can’t deny that a documentary about a company of American soldiers squatting in Uday Hussein’s bombed-out palace sounds freaking awesome. That’s why I went. They’re playing the electric guitar and stuff, in the trailer? And having pool parties? It’s like anarchy over there! Then, one soldier’s rapping about how “We live in this movie,” and you’re like, dude, that’s deep.

Turns out, the whole movie is narrated by the director, who isn’t a soldier, just a cameraman who went to Iraq to make his documentary, and he ruins the entire movie with his idiotic, uninsightful observations. Seriously, the narration is just punishing to listen to. The bulk of Gunner Palace focuses not on the war and such, but on the on-camera-personalities of the soldiers. Much importance is placed on the boys hailing from various pissant farm towns, which explains why most of them seem to be nothing but a bunch of dumb, chuckleheaded bullies. There’s lots of farting and swearing and telling of unfunny jokes. Their assignments are sobering–they investigate a possible explosive, they arrange a sting on a pair of suspected terrorists–but it’s an empty promise of poignancy when nothing comes of either one.

So the point of this film seems to be lost on me, other than War is Bad, and soldiers are really just a bunch of dudes. We already knew that. Also, the music was terrible. Don’t be fooled by the trailer; Gunner Palace is, by and large, an embarrassing waste of time.