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The American military figures prominently in three films Christian critics are excited about: WWII sailors are the heroes of U-571, present-day Marines display honor in Rules of Engagement, and in the near future an American president gambles with nuclear war in Deterrence.

U-571, a fictional thriller about American sailors who commandeer a German U-boat to steal a Nazi encryption device, made a splash at the box office this weekend with a $19.5 million haul. The film also earned the ardent support of Movieguide, which praises everything from Matthew McConaughey's "intense and strongly heroic, yet vulnerable, performance" to the movie's "tasteful, but exciting, use of wartime violence." The review also credits the film with "return[ing] a more old-fashioned and ultimately more honorable spirit to the World War II movie." Preview's Paul Bicking and Ed Crumley noted the patriotic spirit as well, which celebrates "the bravery and beyond-the-call accomplishments of young men at war," and the restrained violence, which was "prevalent but not gratuitous." But others feel the submarine genre is too worn. Michael Elliott of Crosswalk.com says the setting "is so familiar that we are not engrossed in the story, merely curious as to how it is being presented." The Dove Foundation elaborates: "U-571 doesn't just freely borrow from other submarine movies, it downright steals from them … [substituting] loudness in place of character development."

Love and Basketball scored with audiences and critics, as the low-budget romance opened with an impressive $8.1 million and strong reviews. The film, which follows a pair of hoops stars' 15-year relationship, was praised by John Evans of Preview for "developing an enjoyable story around two fairly genteel, caring and successful black families," and avoiding "the incessant barrage of foul language so prevalent in films featuring predominantly black characters." Movieguide was pleased with the attitude toward sports in this "unique story," which "focuses on many important issues rather than the glorification of self in sports." The U.S. Catholic Conference had a few qualms with the "slightly pat script and foreseeable ending," but was nonetheless impressed by "pleasing performances and natural weaving of the sport of basketball into the narrative."

Rules of Engagement, which slipped to third place at the box office, had no new reviews this week. But a recent news story, in which Yemen called on fellow Arab nations to boycott the film, casts a new light on available reviews. Yemen's al-Sahwa newspaper complains that the film "justifies U.S. arrogance as a legitimate defense of the innocent," and depicts Yemenis as "terrorists, blood thirsty and cheats." While that's only one opinion, it does make the patriotic zeal of Christian reviews seem uncompassionate. Since Christians are also sensitive to their portrayal in mainstream media, it stands to reason that negative stereotyping of all sorts could be brought to light.

Two new reviews of 28 Days, a drama about 12-step drug rehabilitation, draw direct Christian parallels. Hollywood Jesus sees the movie's "idea of community, with self, others and God" as analogous to a church body. World magazine, on the other hand, calls 28 Days "the secular equivalent of those old Christian movies where the young rebel is insufferable and unrepentant until he converts at the right part of the movie. … The story is too neat, with all the right crises, colorful background characters, and Big Moments. The real pain of drug abuse—and treatment programs with very low success rates—is papered over."

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April (Web-only) 2000, Vol. 44