2/4  slow start good ending
This movie took a really long tmie to get into the action, and the buildup to the main part of the movie was quite bad and not well-written. If you can sit through the first 70 minutes or so, the movie starts to get good and finishes off ... (read full)

3/4  Christian "Chameleon" Bale
I love the silent sequences of this film. It made it that much more real. I'm shocked at the fact that this is from the same director of "The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser." I abhor that film with a passion but I really like this one because it'... (read full)

3/4  very well done
outside of the quality of the movie, i was most impressed by how much weight bale was able to lose. he looked near death! and though its old hat now, i'm still always impressed by his american accent. I agree with alex, this is a very g... (read full)

3.5/4  Very Good POW Movie
From the beginning of the year, I have anticipated seeing this movie. It was briefly in theaters (5 days in my area) and I never had a chance to watch it. It was praised by many critics and hailed as a great movie by some. Finally, I go... (read full)

3/4  Rescue Dawn Quick Review
Is Christian Bale thinner here than The Machinist? It's a close call. This is a great POW/Vietnam film. The characters drive it, and they drive it well. One of the better recent war movies I've seen.

3/4  Rescue Dawn Quick Review
What a great POW story! I loved it. I thought everything about the movie was very well-done.

5/5 Tale of a brilliant survivor
  by Thorulf (Minnesota)
I can't remember the last time I actually found a movie worth seeing in a theatre. I did not see this film in a theatre, but I wish I had!

I first heard of Dieter Dengler from the Guidebook For Marines. His story is mentioned in the Code Of Conduct chapter, as an example of how an American fighting-man should conduct himself as a P.O.W.

As a Naval aviator during the Vietnam War, he served aboard the aircraft-carrier U.S.S. Ranger. Dengler flew an AD Skyraider, a prop-plane designed for close air-support and reconaissance. Assigned to fly a secret mission to bombard targets in Laos, Dengler was shot down, and manged to evade capture for some time.

Captured by Pathet Lao guerrillas, he was brutally beaten, and eventually interned in a small P.O.W. camp with two other Americans and a small group of Thais. All of the others were personnel employed by Air America, except for Duane Martin, who was an Air Force pilot.

Having no intention of staying in this prison, Dengler improvised a number of tools for an escape attempt. He eventually mobilized the others into making an ingenious escape effort. When the time came, Dengler killed the guards with their own weapons. Dengler and Martin set out together, into the jungle, toiling through dense foliage, mud, incessant rain, illness ...and afflicted by such jungle-pests as leeches and insects. Sadly, Martin was later murdered by a Lao farmer. Dengler survived for 23 days in a hostile environment, hunted by Pathet Lao soldiers, before he was eventually rescued by an Air Force helicopter crew.

This movie is a fine portrayal of Dengler's impressive and relentless will to survive.

I do not know where the film was shot, but some truly incredible mountain and jungle landscape is featured throughout.

Sadly, Mr. Dengler is no longer with us. Afflicted with ALS, he passed away on 7 February, 2001.

Mr. Dengler was born in Germany, and witnessed World War II as a child, as Allied forces invaded in 1945. Watching the exploits of Allied fighter-pilots inspired him to become a pilot. As a teenager, he was apprenticed as a machinist, and saved his money to emmigrate to America. At age 18, he sailed to the U.S., and survived on the streets for a short time, before enlisting in the Air Force in 1957, where he served as a gunsmith.
Dengler took the test for aviation late in his enlistment, and passed. However, his enlistment was soon completed, before he could enroll in the program, and he moved to California to attend college. He was accepted into the Navy cadet Program, and was soon commissioned. He originally trained as a Skyraider pilot, but was trained to fly jet-aircraft after his P.O.W. ordeal. After his time in the Navy, Dengler was employed as a test-pilot for TWA.

Another point of interest regarding Mr. Dengler:
While attending S.E.R.E. school, Dengler escaped the simulated P.O.W. camp THREE TIMES, ...and was the only student in his group to actually GAIN weight!

2/5 This movie is dry and somewhat boring.
  by Sola Fide (Orlando, FL USA)
I enjoy movies based on true stories. That, and the fact that this movie also have very good ratings, was the reason why I decided to purchase the film. Regardless of whether or not the movie was historical, I think they just made the acting too dry and boring. Except for the opening and ending scenes, this thing might as well be a documentary, not a movie. It has the feel more of a slow documentary than a movie. I found the attempt at humor to be sad. It came off strange when they tried to mix serious POW environment with poor comedy about someone messing his pants every night. I really don't know much about Christian Bale. When I first read the reviews on this film, a lot of people kept saying how Christian was such a good actor in this movie. I've come to believe that some people fall under the bandwagon syndrome than they realize. Would anyone in their right mind say that that was great acting? Give me a break. Not trying to disrespect Christian Bale, (I've recently seen him in 3:10 to Yuma and thought he did some pretty good acting there.) but sometimes I think people find out that some guy is supposed to be one of the best actors out there, and all of a sudden they are afraid to give any negative criticism about the guy's acting in anything because they might look like they don't know what they are talking about. This movie drags and some of the acting is just flat out pathetic. If you want to see a movie because Christian Bale is in it, don't make it this one.

5/5 Rescue Dawn = absolute brilliance!
  by Ms. B. Pearce (Sydney, Australia)
Cinematically impressive, Rescue Dawn encompasses the amazing talents of Christian Bale and Steve Zahn among others in a film based on a true story that finds these men trapped in a prison camp during the Vietnam War.

Their performances are flawless. So good that you forget you are watching a movie and not some sort of brilliant documentary.

I'm a 22 year old female and I generally like drama's, musicals, comedies etc (vast range of films) but this war film is nothing short of fantastic. Very glad I purchased it through Amazon (I preferred the American cover to the Australian one).

10/10. Bale and Zahn are instantly and consistantly impressive.

4/5 Herzog and Bale = 4 stars
  by john m mozuke
I enjoyed this movie though it was gut wrenching and had some really brutal moments that stick with you. Bale is excellent and so is suprisingly Steve Zahn (in this type of movie). Werner Herzog is a God and he does a GREAT job... again!

5/5 it's a great movie
  by B. E Jackson (Pennsylvania)
Another war movie, however, this one is a little bit different from all the other ones. Instead of focusing on constant shooting action, strategies involving taking out the enemies, and other things you'd expect in a war movie, this one focuses LESS on action, and more on the Americans escaping from a Vietnamese prison during the war.

Do they eventually escape? Well, you probably know the answer to that one. But the film actually does a good job focusing on the Vietnamese, and the way they went about their lives during the war.

The place the captured Americans were held wasn't exactly the worst place in the world, perhaps the prisons in Vietnam weren't really that bad, or maybe the films developers just didn't do a good enough job showing what those prisons were REALLY like, I don't know the answer to that one.

I just know Rescue Dawn was a good movie because you kept pulling for the Americans to get out of jail, find a clear exit, and hope the helicopters eventually arrive.

I'm reluctant to reveal TOO much more about this movie because war films don't usually vary much with each one, so I don't want to spoil what little surprises this film features that you haven't seen before. Let's just say- as far as war films go, this one is top notch.