I cannot fathom what drew this A-list cast to such a lackluster effort as the action-thriller Tin Soldier. I can only surmise it’s some sort of cinematic Ponzi scheme, where stars like Scott Eastwood and Jamie Foxx signed on for the chance to work with Robert De Niro, giving the movie the faintest whiff of legitimacy.
In fact, if you turn up the volume and listen closely, you can almost hear the stars on the phone with their agents, begging for an emergency exit. However, as men of their word, they completed Tin Soldier, one of the most incoherent and flawed action films in recent memory. I thought Ice Road: Vengeance was bad; this is worse.
Tin Soldier Plot
The story follows former decorated naval officer Leon K. Prudhomme (Foxx), who, seventeen years earlier, established The Program to help fellow veterans cope with post-traumatic stress disorder. Now known as “The Bokushi,” Prudhomme has the Federal Bureau of Investigation concerned that the group has strayed from its mission.
One of those former members is Nash Cavanaugh (Eastwood), who left the program. Nash has been mourning the loss of his partner, Evoli (Army of the Dead’s Nora Arnezeder), who drowned after he failed to save her. Disheveled, drinking, and depressed, Nash is recruited by his former officer, Luke Dunne (John Leguizamo), who previously failed in an attempt to infiltrate Prudhomme’s facility.
What happens next is hard to follow, not to mention overacted to the point of parody.
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Tin Soldier Review
Tin Soldier was directed by Brad Furman, a filmmaker with a solid career that includes The Lincoln Lawyer, The Infiltrator, and the polarizing City of Lies. Furman co-wrote the script with Jess Fuerst (Justin Bieber: What Do You Mean?) and Pablo Fenjves (Man on a Ledge). This is a creative team that has helped produce Furman’s previous films and work in music videos.
Ironically, the screenplay combines serious subject matter with music-video tendencies and thriller elements—a mix that often feels like oil and water. Furman has suddenly lost control, muddying the visual style and inventiveness between flashbacks and traumatic triggering events that come off as amateurish. Some scenes are so derivative, they come across as incoherent.
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Then there are the sound design and editing issues, which are almost incomprehensibly incompetent. In nearly every action sequence, whether bullets are flying or characters are shouting in the rain, the background noise overwhelms the dialogue. You might as well turn on closed captioning, because unless you’re a lip reader, you’ll have no idea what the characters are saying.
Is Tin Soldier worth watching?
The movie means well, aiming to explore themes of post-traumatic stress disorder and the treatment of veterans, which lends the story some emotional weight. However, the script becomes tangled in unnecessary subplots and incoherent storytelling. Three main storylines bleed together without setup or explanation.
Tin Soldier is the action movie equivalent of a rat race, turning the viewing experience into a maze with no exit—confusing and far from compelling. Eastwood, for all his charisma and star power, is too lightweight an actor to carry a picture, working much better within an ensemble cast. While we can respect the effort to use exaggerated themes of veterans’ PTSD, the subject matter deserves better.
The new film Tin Soldier premieres on September 12th!
