Still Life (2008)

For Memorial Day this year, you might want to enjoy a change of pace from the usual collection of WW1, WW2, and Vietnam War movies in order to focus on more contemporary military conflicts. Mine (2016, Netflix), is definitely contemporary, but it’s far from Saving Private Ryan caliber.

The movie’s premise is quite engaging: after a failed mission in the North African desert, U.S. Marine Sgt. Mike Stevens (Armie Hammer) heads back to HQ. On the way through the barren desert, he feels himself step on a landmine. If he removes his foot, he’ll be blown to smithereens. There’s no one in sight and HQ tells him they can’t send a rescue mission for another 52 hours. The name of the game now is pure survival.

The first half of Stevens’ ordeal is full of trapped-in-the-desert tropes and white-knuckle suspense. He runs out of water, of course. He can’t get the radio working. There’s a sandstorm on the way. There are wild animals in the dark. If he moves his left foot even a teensy bit, he’ll blow up.

Sadly, things lose momentum in the second half of the film. Stevens is beset with the standard set of hallucinations. We learn that he is yet another case of a “dark and troubled past” complete with a drunk, abusive father. Naturally, this leads Stevens’ to grow into a brooding and sometimes violently angry adult who manages to mess up the best relationship of his life.

Essentially, Mine goes from adrenaline-fueled suspense thriller to navel-gazey character study rather quickly. There’s nothing wrong with the latter; unfortunately, Mine wastes time retreading old, tired cliches. The flashbacks are just too on the nose to be interesting, but at least we’re spared video diary narcissism.