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Courage Under Fire

"A medal for honor. A search for justice. A battle for truth."

A US Army officer, who made a "friendly fire" mistake that was covered up, has been reassigned to a desk job. He is tasked to investigate a female chopper commander's worthiness to be awarded the Medal of Honor. At first all seems in order. But then he begins to notice inconsistencies between the testimonies of the witnesses...

Top Cast

  • Denzel Washington

    Denzel Washington

    Lieutenant Colonel Nathaniel Serling

  • Meg Ryan

    Meg Ryan

    Captain Karen Emma Walden

  • Lou Diamond Phillips

    Lou Diamond Phillips

    Staff Sergeant John Monfriez

  • Michael Moriarty

    Michael Moriarty

    Brigadier General Hershberg

  • Matt Damon

    Matt Damon

    Ilario

  • Bronson Pinchot

    Bronson Pinchot

    Bruno

  • Seth Gilliam

    Seth Gilliam

    Stephen Altameyer

  • Regina Taylor

    Regina Taylor

    Meredith Serling

  • Željko Ivanek

    Željko Ivanek

    Banacek

Overview

A US Army officer, who made a "friendly fire" mistake that was covered up, has been reassigned to a desk job. He is tasked to investigate a female chopper commander's worthiness to be awarded the Medal of Honor. At first all seems in order. But then he begins to notice inconsistencies between the testimonies of the witnesses...

Rating

6.5 / 10
1,049 Reviews
2 Popular

1 Reviews

  • CinemaSerf
    CinemaSerf
    6 Aug 27, 2023

    What makes this film stand out (a little) is the intimate style of photography. The POV camerawork gives us a proximity to the story and characters that we rarely see. Sadly, though, the story itself is a little bit thin. Denzel Washington is tasked with investigating the worthiness of a deceased helicopter pilot during the Gulf war to receive the medal of honor. Assuming it would be a routine ratification, he interviews her crew only to find discrepancies and inconstancies that cast a shadow over the whole procedure. Had this just been a routine wartime tale, then it might have been ok - but the fact that it is based around a real wartime scenario, and married together with that sickly trumpet-based pseudo-military score and an annoyingly "Semper Fi" sort of mentality, the whole thing just sinks down into a mire of absurdity and sentimentality. Neither Denzel Washington nor Meg Ryan really have the weight to give this film any bite, oomph - or, for that matter, plausibility. Matt Damon makes some impact but I couldn't quite decide whether that was because he was good, or because it was interesting to see him before stardom set it in - but either way, this is pretty much devoid of action, and the dialogue could have been written by the US Army recruitment office. They all look great in their uniforms, though!

Trailers & Clips

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