‘Thank You For Your Service’ Is More Of An Honorable Discharge [Review]

The notions of service and sacrifice are in the zeitgeist, and on the minds of filmmakers. And both ideas are explored through the eyes of actor Miles Teller, who in the span of two weeks has played a masculine, square-jawed firefighter in “Only The Brave” and a soldier grappling with PTSD in “Thank You For Your Service” from Jason Hall, the writer behind “American Sniper.”

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It’s an interesting week for the movie’s release: a picture that honors those who have fought for the country while the sitting President of the United States brazenly disrespects the pregnant widow of a fallen American soldier. The timing is uncanny, with the ironic juxtaposition searing and ripe for examination.

Unfortunately, Trump plays a much greater dramatic foil than ‘Service’ could ever imagine, and the film curiously holds little compelling political or cultural currency. And for something so ostensibly relevant, ‘Service’ feels disassociated from the climate, like it could have been made any time in the last three decades. Hall’s directorial debut is admirable, but falls short and even underwhelms at times. ‘Service’ has good intentions, but lacks the potent drama and bracing immediacy of our current political moment.

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“I was a good soldier. I had purpose and I loved it,” Adam Schumann (Teller) explains in the opening moments of this “after war” drama. An army sergeant who served in Iraq, Schumann lead his team with distinction, but is still haunted by the two men he couldn’t save. Returning to the U.S. with two of his close GIs, Will Waller (Joe Cole) and Tausolo Aeiti (Beulah Koale), Schumann tries to put on the brave face for his dutiful wife, Saskia (Haley Bennett), but the Sarge’s cracks are starting to show. Much worse off are Waller, a soldier “blown up” several times and Aeiti, who’s suffered brain-scrambling injuries. All three are shattered to some degree, but Schumann, perhaps because of his family bedrock, copes best. When tragedy befalls Waller, it’s up to Schumann and Aeiti to trudge on. Already feeling helpless, lost and broken, bureaucratic nightmares and cultural indifference make their burden seemingly impossible to overcome.

A would-be humanist drama, Hall’s inaugural effort is respectful, but cinematically flat and uninspired, and it’s up to the actors to elevate the material. Teller, Cole and especially Koale, perhaps the movie’s biggest acting revelation, are admirable, but the conventional script doesn’t allow them to connect in an affecting manner. Teller is good, but try as he might, his sensitive veneer doesn’t scream “rugged jarhead.” Soldiers largely suffer in silence, carrying the weight of their pain that’s hidden behind their eyes. But ‘Service’ never illuminates their struggle beyond what you’d expect when actors pretend they’re grappling with angst and confusion. It’s a lot of gritted teeth, the frustrated banging of a head on a wall, and manly rage, but none of it bruises with much substance. Worse, you feel like you’ve seen this movie before. Even patchy efforts like “American Sniper,” “Brothers,” and “In The Valley Of Elah” depicted the mental horrors of PTSD with more convincing conviction.

And while emotional stakes are everything in a movie, even with lives in peril, Hall’s movie risks still feel relatively low. Will the soldiers’ insurance premiums cover the psychological assistance they need? Will the grunts’ personal demons get the best of them? Perhaps with a more emotionally insightful script and a better director, “Thank You For Your Service” would grip the viewer in a meaningful way.

Frustratingly, while ‘Service’ depicts several ways in which America and the military fails its soldiers, chews them up and spits them out after their purpose is over, the movie chooses to not overly politicize its largely forgotten and neglected fighters.

It cannot be understated how safe, flat, and uninvolving it really is. It’s the kind of picture that feels like the first-time filmmaker leaned in hard on his cinematographer to ask where the camera should be placed in each shot. Much like the troubled soldiers who keep everything bottled up inside, ‘Service’ has a tough time effectively communicating its feelings in a way that fully impacts the viewer. Empathizing with the characters with their heartbreaking issues is easy. Actually, feeling heartbroken is another story.

At its best, “Thank You For Your Service” occasionally works as movie about brotherhood and the unbreakable bonds of soldiers who will have one another’s backs for life, but it’s also very bro-y. It’s authentic of course, but only selective audiences will take to it. Worst of all, “Thank You For Your Service” features no surprises. Nothing in the movie keeps you on your toes; the inevitability of it all is telegraphed from the beginning.

Ultimately, “Thank You For Your Service” is commendable and, well, serviceable. But it’s more of an honorable discharge rather than something you fete with medals of esteem. [C+]