The Four Feathers
reviewed by Brian "the Naked Gun" Felts & Benn "Where's the Humanity?" Farrell

"The Four Feathers" is a remake of a 1977 film, which is a remake of a 1939 film, which is the remake of a 1929 film, which is a remake of a 1921 film, which is a remake of a 1915 film originally based on a book of the same name, written by A.E.W. Mason.

The 2002 version stars Heath Ledger (The Order) as Harry Faversham, a British Soldier who resigns right before the British Army sets sail to conquer a bunch of half-assed Arabs in the Sudan. When a movie has been remade as many times as this has, it say two things; the book must be really good to be turned into a movie so many times, and it says there are very few original thinkers in Hollywood.

The movie is quite slow, and it took me three times to get through it from beginning to end. Overall, the movie is pretty boring. It's the type of movie you can watch in the middle of winter, when it's snowing outside, and might make you forget about the weather.

The story is pretty straightforward, Harry (Ledger) is in the British Army and is the best soldier of the group, envy of his fellow officers. He is going to marry the beautiful Ethnie, played by Kate Hudson (Almost Famous), and life is great. That is until, Harry discovers the army is going to Africa to fight a war and put themselves in harms way. While the rest of the British Officers toast the future victory, Harry broods in the crowd thinking to himself, "Hey, I joined up for the GI Bill, I don't want to go fight."

The next day he surprises his fiancé, his fellow officers, and his dad The General, and resigns. Upon hearing this, his friends give him a box containing four feathers signifying they think he is a coward. Ethnie also blows him off saying she would rather marry a brave dead soldier instead of a living coward.

As the army goes off to war, Harry makes his way to the Sudan dressed up like an Arab and tries to reach the fort where his friends are located. He makes it there but does not disclose to his friends he is among them. He decides to help the war effort as an Arab minion. Well, as per the norm in Hollywood movies, the British go and fight and get their asses kicked. Now Harry has to save his friends in order to prove he is not a coward. Along the way, he is helped by an African tribesman, Abou Fatma, played by Djimon Hounsou (Amistad).

There are many problems with the movie. Demonizing Ethnie for not only dumping Harry in the first place, but forgetting about him, as he goes to war. Then, she falls in love with his bestfriend Jack, played by Wes Bentley (American Beauty), another Hollywood cliché for women--see "Pearl Harbor."

Also, Harry has this miraculous ability to be on deaths door one second, many times, and always finds the strength to kick ass and take names the very next second. Then of course, there is the very Hollywood cliché of the Blackman playing the second fiddle to the main white character, but being the conscience, strength, etc of that character. Hey, Hollywood! We do not need to make them secondary characters. They are strong and independent all on there own. We don't need to be reminded how "the man" is keeping "the brother" down.

The only good thing about this movie is the cinematography. Scenes are shot beautifully, even for a desert, and action scenes are well choreographed as well, if not a bit over the top. Director Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth) did a by-the-numbers job of a rehashed story.

This movie goes under the heading of "Watch it if you got nothing else to do."

Brian - the Naked Gun

The picture "Four Feathers" has one great quality and one horrible quality. Brian has done a bang-up job pointing out the picture's short comings, but I have a couple others to note.

What I MOST like about the movie is Ledger's character's response to the call to war. Now, he has plenty to live for, a new wife ready to be climbed on top of, the envy of the community. Why would he want to leave? Simple. He joined the flipping army. That's the consequence.

However, his question, "What interest does the Queen have in the Sudan to send her soldiers to war," was an argument also well-made. I didn't agree with his action as a supposed patriot, but I did agree with his argument. The Sudan was just another piece of land Britain controlled for only purpose of status.

What I enjoy about THIS being a part of the material is, it creates a debate of whether or not Ledger is doing the "right" thing. It's a very important argument, which could also be applied to today's military action in Iraq. THAT part of the movie says something to be debated.

However, that is IT for the movie. There is nothing positive in the picture after. The acting drives me nuts. All these posh Englishmen attempt to make us believe they have the balls enough to fight a war, when they've seen nothing of the like in their military careers. The tooty-ness of these characters made me want to cut my body open and bleed to death.

A friend of mine, who sat me down and made me watch this picture, can testify the over-the-top British accents were making me writhe in my seat. It was downright painful and brought down the picture very quick for me.

Brian is also right in that Hudson's character was worthless as a person and as a character. Wes Bentley didn't have much to offer as an entity either. I liked this picture even less than Brian. If the plights of stupid Englishmen who walk around like they have something in their butts and act like they're better than everyone else is your thing to watch, than rent this one.

Otherwise, it's damaging to my blood pressure. I don't dare watch the previous 150 cinematic versions of this book, nor read the book itself. This picture has ruined it already for me.

Benn - Where's the Humanity?