'Generation Kill' ( TELEVISION REVIEW )

Los Angeles Times ^ | July 11, 2008 | Robert Lloyd

[kellynla]

Here we are in year six of the Iraq war, which has receded in the media to a static-filled hum of casualty figures and reports of new advances in improvised weaponry. If it takes a re-created reality to make us think concretely about what's happening there, and has been happening there, so be it.

Steven Bochco tried it a couple of seasons back with "Over There," half successfully, but it lasted only one season. And now David Simon(writer) and Ed Burns ("The Wire") have adapted Rolling Stone journalist Evan Wright's book “Generation Kill.” The HBO show recounts in seven parts the seven weeks Wright spent with the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion on the front lines of what prematurely came to be known as Operation Iraqi Freedom.

It is a straightforward and remarkably thorough adaptation of the book, shot without stylistic frills in a way that reflects Wright's own carefully neutral prose -- he doesn't use a lot of adjectives and for the most part leaves the colorful color commentary to his subjects. (Simon and Burns, and their directors Susanna White and Simon Cellan Jones, also avoid the over-emphatic faux-documentary style pioneered by Bochco.)

The drama is all in the staging and cutting, and in the almost musical alternation of long stretches of relative quiet with passages of brilliantly rendered violent action. The camera work rarely calls attention to itself. There is no music apart from what the soldiers sing themselves as they ride along (and Johnny Cash singing the apocalyptic "The Man Comes Around" over the last minutes of the last episode).

[kellynla]

I canceled HBO a long time ago. So I would be interested in what Marines who have served and/or are serving in Iraq think of this program.

Semper Fi, Kelly

[Jersey Republican Biker Chick]

I did not watch it yet.

Has anyone seen it? I am curious to see what people thought as well.

[astounded]

Never had HBO myself. But, I did read the book - it is outstanding in showing those young Recon Marines in a realistic, generally favorable light. They had a real trip up the Euphrates in spring 2003, that’s for sure.

[Bommer]

Hey with a title called Generation Kill you know if neutral. Guess it sounded better than calling it “The American Baby Killing Women Rapers” Hollywood is crap!

[nutmeg]

Just curious if you’ve seen this on HBO and what your thoughts are about it...

[Chuzzlewit]

I haven’t been able to bring myself to watch it. after all , this is not World War II we are talking about, so the targeted HBO audience is going to require quite a bit of characters with the “dumb jock soldier” mindset..

[bolobaby]

A coworker was describing the first episode to me. I was appalled at what he outlined. Based on that exposure alone, I’m sure it is garbage.

Basically, it sounds like overblown BS. Something that depicts all of our soldiers as generally unprofessional, misguided civilians who are getting their jollies living in a world “without rules.”

[frankiep]

The HBO show recounts in seven parts the seven weeks Wright spent with the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion on the front lines of what prematurely came to be known as Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Nope, no bias or agenda from this writer at all. Move along.

[12Gauge687]

Same crowd that watches Bill Maher’s Politically Incorrect; although, quite frankly, Bill and his Liberal pals were all too politically correct.

I did hear the series on John Adams was worth watching.

[devistate one four]

The Marines at Pendelton liked it ok. And I read where one or two of the actual marines are on the film, and many cotributed to the film.
Note to author, M a r i n e s are not soldiers!
Semper Fi

[Zman516]

"...have adapted Rolling Stone journalist Evan Wright's book..."

That much right there tells you it will be shiite.

[frankiep]

That’s exactly what I assumed it would be like. Sounds like a longer, more drawn out version of that piece of crap movie ‘Jarhead’, which was simply unwatchable and did nothing more than attempt to portray those in the military as brainwashed animals and/or crybaby whiners.

[Adder]

I’ve watched it and its pretty good...I dislike the banter that goes on...it seems pretty forced and “ghetto” but maybe thats how it is.

These guys are supposedly racing to Baghdad...for at least three hours of the show they have been stumbling around. Since we toppled Saddazz in 9 days, these guys have missed almost 11% of the war.

Some things are a bother... whenever there is a lull in the action, there are always scenes of dead people laying around including one little girl whose legs have been severed.

I am not sure exactly what is trying to be said with ALL of these scenes...they do not move the story.

All that being said, we will continue to tune in. It feels real enough...but I would have no real way of knowing if it is an accurate portrayal. I will say that its not overtly antiwar nor is it a slam against our boys.

[frankiep]

HBO shows some excellent stuff such as Band of Brothers, The Sopranos, John Adams, Six Feet Under, Flight of the Conchords, etc. They also show some stuff that is just pure garbage.

[PsyOp]

I read the book as well. I thought it very good. When I heard that HBO was doing a series based on it, my only thought was how far they would go to twist it and distort it.

The book was loaned to me by a friend and former active-duty marine who is a good friend of one of the books prime characters. He felt it described his buddy and the unit accurately.

[Liberty Valance]

I've seen the first two episodes. I like it so far.







About Evan Wright
An award-winning contributing editor for Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair, media speaker Evan Wright is the author of Generation Kill. This best-selling book presents an eyewitness account of elite Marines facing combat in Iraq and paints a harrowing life-and-death portrait of young Americans at war. Generation Kill was a critical success and the former commandant of the U.S. Army War College, Major General Robert Scales, has called it "the finest war reporting since Michael Herre's Dispatches." Generation Kill is also the basis of the upcoming HBO miniseries, which aired in 2008.

[mnehrling]

I've purposefully skipped it to wait and see what others have said. Is it a hack job or accurate?

The Military Channel has had some great, first-hand documentary accounts. I trust them far more than HBO.

[Daus]

As a guy who generally likes HBO's stuff, I was pretty disappointed in the first two episodes. There just isn't anything new here. The first episode is the troops waiting around in Kuwait with the same old cliches of amped up Marines being homoerotic mixed in with a good bit of race baiting between the troops.

The second episode is the "the invasion begins, but we get stuck trailing the leading force, I sure want to start killing people, but I have no one to shoot at" story line.

Maybe it's just me, and I've read too many books, but it felt like the same stuff we've seen before. Did EVERY unit go through Nasiryah on the way up to Bagdhad because it seems like EVERY inbed reporter/book writer did.

[Harry Pothead]

I watched the first two episodes last night, it was pretty true to the book. Pretty even handed, I didnt go “sheesh” once. Portrays the captains as idiots and the lt’s as saving graces. Again, very true to the book so far. I would recommend it.

[y6162]

I’ve been watching it. I like it. Good characters. It’s about the marines, not politics, yet.

[britt reed]

I watched the first episode. It wasn't bad, it wasn't great. If you like watching Marines hurry up and wait, you might like it. If you like representations of corporate sponsored war, i.e. Pizza Hut deliveries and adult diapers at the PX, you might like it.

Personally, I've spent my time more productively. I've spent my time less productively. I will watch the second episode, though. I would like to see how it plays out.

[Borges]

Well that was the title of the book wasn’t it?

[LS]

Haven’t seen it, but I quoted a segment of his article, from which the book was taken, in my book, “America’s Victories: Why the U.S. Wins Wars and Will Win the War on Terror.” The publisher thought it was negative to the military, but I thought it was quite positive. (It showed the Marines heading into combat with rock music blaring, a la Robert Duvall). Read the segment, or read the whole article, and see what you think.

[Liberty Valance]

There are some humorous spots in the series so far. When asked why we went to war one Marine remarks that “it’s not because of Oil or WMDs, it’s because of p***y! Iraqis under Saddam just don’t get enough p***y.”

[kellynla]

Has your son seen this program?
If so, I would be interested in his opinion.

Semper Fi,
Kelly

[wbill]

No idea about how accurate this movie is, I'll let the Freepers with 1st hand knowledge comment.

My take on what I've seen so far is that this flick deperately wants to be Band of Brothers, and fails.

Not as teeth-grindingly bad as some Gulf War movies that have come out recently (Jarhead comes to mind)....but not great, either.

[jubail]

This is a great show. Writing, acting, depictions are all excellent. Worth subscribing to HBO just for this show.

[jubail]

One of the funniest lines is when one of the Marines says that avid readers of Rolling Stone all have C—ks up their a—es.

[kellynla]

” This a great show. Writing, acting, depictions are all excellent. Worth subscribing to HBO just for this show.”

No thanks.

After the Bill Maher incidents, we’re not interested.

And even if the program was fair & balanced and on another network, I wouldn’t watch it. Don’t need any refresher courses, thank you. Took me 5 years to get my shiite together after Nam.

BTW, are you a Marine Corps Iraqi war veteran?

Semper Fi,
Kelly

[tumblindice]

I think they said that just before the journo said he wrote `Beaver Patrol’ for Hustler magazine, before writing for Rolling Stone, then they thought he was great.
I’m watching, but with a somewhat jaundiced eye. That Marine was right about RS AND HBO.

[manic4organic]

I’d rather see Michael Yon’s writing be turned into a movie.

[CDB]

I’d rather see Michael Yon’s writing be turned into a movie.

Amen. So would I. Something like Ernie Pyle's "Story of GI Joe."

[jamese777]

I’m loving the realism of Generation Kill.
My favorite line thus far was in last night’s episode: a Marine convoy is headed through Nasiriyah and an Iraqi holding his infant is waving and saying “welcome Americans, we love you” and one of the Marine sergeants in the convoy waves back and says: “thank you, vote Republican.”

[Old Student]

“I’d rather see Michael Yon’s writing be turned into a movie.”

Oh, yeah! How come the only reporter that I know of that actually “gets it” is having to pay his own way over there?

[Citizen Blade]

I’ve never been in the military, but the banter among the Marines strikes me as pretty realistic for any group of bored young men with no women around. The same type of politically incorrect conversations about race, sexuality and politics goes on in every guy-heavy environment I’ve ever encountered: sports teams, landscaping jobs, investment bank trading floors etc. I’m not surprised that a bunch of 20ish Marines call each other homos for fun while making insulting jokes about everyone’s parentage.

It’s a good show so far. The characters are well-done and believable. The bit where they gained instant respect for the reporter when they discovered he had written for Hustler in the past was hilarious.

I’ve heard it said that the military is 99% boredom, interspersed with 1% pure terror. This show does a good job of showing that reality.

[Dogbert41]

My take is that they filmed this with glasses colored by “see I told ya so” LIBERAL 5 year old war mentality.

The marines in this Hollywood “joint” act as though they are draftees that didn't want to be there.

The reality is what we all saw on TV: fighting close, so pumped up they were shooting the enemy from their stretchers, shooting the enemy while medics were wrapping up their wounds, killing every jihadi they could find, laying it all on the line, because we lost over 3000 American civilians, mothers, brothers, sisters, dads, grandmas, to those MFERS.

NONE Of that heart is in this. NONE OF IT. It's a big stinking waste of money and time to see this through a Lib dumb Fcks eyes.

Sadly, what else is out there on the war? This will be one of the few ever made about Iraq or Afghanistan, and it will be the tale 50 years from now.

Sucks.

[jamese777]

“My take is that they filmed this with glasses colored by “see I told ya so” LIBERAL 5 year old war mentality.
The marines in this Hollywood “joint” act as though they are draftees that didn’t want to be there.

The reality is what we all saw on TV: fighting close, so pumped up they were shooting the enemy from their stretchers, shooting the enemy while medics were wrapping up their wounds, killing every jihadi they could find, laying it all on the line, because we lost over 3000 American civilians, mothers, brothers, sisters, dads, grandmas, to those MFERS.

NONE Of that heart is in this. NONE OF IT. It’s a big stinking waste of money and time to see this through a Lib dumb Fcks eyes.

Sadly, what else is out there on the war? This will be one of the few ever made about Iraq or Afghanistan, and it will be the tale 50 years from now.

Sucks.”

---

I think you’re watching the wrong channel. “Generation Kill” on HBO is almost constantly making fun of liberals and putting them down as being weak, pacifist and gay.

[Dick Vomer]

Some things are a bother... whenever there is a lull in the action, there are always scenes of dead people laying around including one little girl whose legs have been severed.

sounds like a real urban combat scene. Just got to get that smell to really make it worthwhile, just leave some 50 lbs of ham/eggs/bacon and fruit in a blanket outside in a puddle of water for a couple of day... then just bring it in when they show those dead body scenes for the real effect... and maybe some dogs and others eating the remains.

yep, that'll get your reality factor red-lined.

I haven't seen it, cause I don't get HBO. I'll wait until the rest of the freepers review it. My thoughts on this are mixed.

As a question for any men that have seen or are currently in combat. Do you really think that anybody is going to believe how boring, nasty, and stupid guys act with each other sometimes.... and how unbelievably scared, happy, sad, p#ssed off, confused and brave something like a 2-3 minute fire fight can make everybody.

or how you can look at a man that just ran 20 yards(not very far) and realize that you are witnessing something unbelievable and can say without embarrassment that you love him.

I don't know what this HBO show is going to bring out. I liked "Band of Brothers" some of the times but realize that it's still not the real deal.

If it honors the men that served as Marines in that unit.... well God Bless them. If it's just a hit job, (shrug shoulders).... so what, they don't understand what being a Marine is all about anyway and just wish they were brave enough to try. .... kinda like Dan Rather and Hillary Clinton..hahahahahahahahaa....

[MinorityRepublican]

bttt

[gunner03]

I think your take on the show is correct. My son, a former scout/sniper in 2nd Recon Bn, was attached to 2nd RCT, in the push north. Says it’s pretty good so far. My own take is the same, with the exception of some leftest spin.Better than I expected.

[Citizen Blade]

I think your take on the show is correct. My son, a former scout/sniper in 2nd Recon Bn, was attached to 2nd RCT, in the push north. Says it’s pretty good so far. My own take is the same, with the exception of some leftest spin.Better than I expected.

I think some posters on this thread would prefer a show that painted Marines as a bunch of perfect choirboys. The fact is, these are a bunch of young men doing a job that involves a lot of day-to-day BS, some unimaginable terror, and a lot of sitting around waiting for stuff to happen.

The fact that soldiers use foul language, talk to each other without PC filters and constantly bitch about everything under the sun is probably the same behavior that goes back at least to bored Roman legionnaires camped outside some godforasaken town outside of Carthage.

[DogBarkTree]

My son, a former scout/sniper in 2nd Recon Bn, was attached to 2nd RCT, in the push north. Says it’s pretty good so far.

Thank you sir. Yours is the comment I was looking for. How I feel about this leftist slanted take on the war is not important. If your son likes it then that's good enough for me. As mentioned by an earlier reply, I'm not comfortable with the idea that the Marines didnt want to be there as is depicted in this series.

[Junior_G]

I don’t have military experience, so I can’t judge the show from that standpoint. But from my non-military standpoint, all I can say is that I sincerely hope this show is suffering from a leftist bias. Because if it’s an accurate portrayal, that means our military is a completely incompetent organization prone to blasting innocent women and children to pieces. I just watched episode 3 and that summarizes the whole episode.

[Dogbert41]

After the 4th episode, I’m rooting for the Iraqis. I would like to see the marines depicted in this series all drawn and quartered.

I guess that’s the intent of the series.

[Junior_G]

After the 4th episode, I’m rooting for the Iraqis. I would like to see the marines depicted in this series all drawn and quartered.

Same here. And did you notice the soldier in the 4th episode reading Noam Chomsky? It was very brief...they were really trying to be sneaky with it. The more of this mini-series that I watch, the more obvious the left-wing propagandic nature of it becomes. Compare this series to Band of Brothers, which was HBO's WWII miniseries a few years back. That show depicted our troops as a bunch of generally good guys thrown into a horrible situation. Generation Kill depicts our soldiers as just plain horrible to begin with. It seems like all they do is deliberately kill innocent civilians.

But what else would you expect from Rolling Stone magazine?

[petro45acp]

Having watched all episodes so far, waiting for the other boot to drop. The show has NOT taken a left turn just yet. The depiction of the Marines has been pretty solid (favorite is the Sergeant Major, enforcing uniform regs during the invasion...classic).

Haven’t read the book yet, but the mini-series seems to be a fairly objective account. The embed may be a left leaning loon, but that hasn’t come out as a slant to the program.

Band of Brothers was a completely different product, from a completely different set of circumstances. Warfare against a uniformed enemy is hard enough. Throw in civilian dressed aggressors interspersed with civilian dressed civilians, and the difficulty quotent goes up by several orders of magnitude. If the depiction in GK is accurate, then the Marines aquitted themselves with honor (never a doubt).

When it comes out on disk, it will be a must have set (with or without left turns).

Semper Fidelis,
top sends

[kellynla]

Thanks for the report.

I canceled HBO after the Bill Maher “joke” about decapitated bodies & heads in the gutter in Iraq.

I probably wouldn’t watch this mini-series if I could.
Had enough war to last me lifetime while I was in the Corps.

Semper Fi,
Kelly

[Dogbert41]

I didn’t notice him reading Chomsky!!! Figures. I have to confess the way that they mocked the chaplain was the last straw with me.