Product Description

Just release from the base stockade, recruit Roland Bozz (Farrell) joins a platoon of young soldiers preparing to ship out to Vietnam. Bozz's independence and outright defiance draws fire from his own men as well as commanding officers. But when the platoon is sent to Tigerland, a helish training ground that is the last stop before Vietnam, Bozz's leadership and loyalty bring his men together - triggering extraordinary consequences.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27891 in DVD
• Brand: 2001 Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
• Released on: 2001-04-17
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 100 minutes

Amazon.com
Shot in the rough, 16-millimeter style of a low-budget documentary, Tigerland marked director Joel Schumacher's welcomed return to simplicity after a slew of bloated blockbusters like Batman & Robin. In revitalizing Schumacher's directorial talent, Tigerland--partially inspired by the Danish Dogme 95 movement of no-frills filmmaking--suggested that one solution to Hollywood's moribund "product" was to abandon excess, focus on essentials, and assemble a fine cast of unknown actors to make it all worthwhile. To that end, Tigerland also marked the deserving arrival of Irish actor Colin Farrell as Hollywood's hottest new discovery.

Its story never leaves U.S. soil, so Tigerland differs from such in-country Vietnam films as Platoon and Full Metal Jacket. Instead, it's about the anxieties and moral dilemmas that arise from the anticipation of death and killing. These roiling emotions are focused on the character of Private Bozz (Farrell), whose insubordination betrays a singular knack for leadership during infantry training at Fort Polk, Louisiana, in 1971. Part R.P. McMurphy and part Cool Hand Luke, Bozz is a defiant maverick, barely tolerated by his superiors, challenged or revered by his fellow grunts, and ultimately honed into a soldier of remarkable promise. An intense final week in the live-ammo training ground nicknamed "Tigerland" galvanizes the platoon and Bozz's place in it, and although the film (partially based on cowriter Ross Klavan's own experience) lacks the emotional impact of Platoon, it deals quite potently with the internal conflicts that must be waged before external warfare can be endured. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

4 stars out of 4
The Bottom Line:

With a great performance by Farrell in the lead, splendid cinematography by Matthew Libatique, and an altogether new take on the much-documented subject of the Vietnam War, Tigerland emerges as an underrated gem of a film worth seeking out.

Excellent military and FARRELL movie
I am reviewing this movie in 8/08 and was thrilled I got to see it. Colin Farrell has made many movies over his career often to mixed reviews. He seems to either be really good or not good at all. But he has that star presence and I must admit he is one of my favorites. Anyone with any doubts as to the acting chops of Colin Farrell must see this movie. His acting here shows he is among the top in his field and he is capable of anything. It is an acting tour de force.

This film is important on many levels and I think it was very underrated. It truly deserves a place in film history as one of the best films about war. And it manages to do this without having any battle scenes or even making it to the war.

It takes place in the army training program and shows what all this endures emotionally and physically. The movie is fully carried on the shoulders of Colin Farrell. He plays army infantryman private Bozz and has a very strong, rebellious personality while being very intelligent and full of potential at the same time.

I don't want to give away more of the plot. It is a very real, intense emotional movie about the Vietnam War. The whole ensemble cast is incredible and I have not watched a film that managed to keep me on the edge of my seat, emotionally involved and that also left me with much to think about in a long time. Colin Farrell deserved Oscar attention for this.

Highly recommended.

...military 'stereotypes'? Not even that.
After seeing the movie, I was shocked to discover that it was 'based on' a book written by someone who had been through Tigerland himself and served a tour in Vietnam during the period depicted in the film.

It would seem that 'based on' leaves a lot of room for artistic liberty. Perhaps the film makers should have set aside more of what was clearly a small budget for the services of a military consultant ...maybe then they wouldn't have referred to a field phone as a 'radio', have been more accurate with the uniforms, and not relied so heavily on dialogue and mannerisms that could have only been based on what someone who had never spent a day in uniform 'thought' soldiers spoke and acted like.

This movie needed the services of Dale Dye ...badly!