Happy late Independence Day, guys, and welcome to an all new Reaction & Review. Yeah, I know the 4th of July has kinda passed already, but I still want to celebrate the anniversary of our great nation by covering something that's rather festive for this time of year. And I found the perfect movie for that celebration. It is a horror comedy from 1996. That movie is "Uncle Sam".
Now the premise to this movie is pretty simple. Some guy who's dressed up like Uncle Sam, goes on a killing spree against anyone that's unpatriotic. At least, that's what I'm going to assume from the little information that I looked up in preparation for this movie. Anything beyond that, I don't know of, content wise. I know of only one person that stars in this movie, and that person is Isaac Hayes. What role he plays exactly is, again, something I don't know of at this time.
But that's what I'm here to find out. I'm gonna find out if this movie is any good at all. I'm also hoping for it to be really funny, too. But the only way I'm gonna find all that out is if I shut up and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Uncle Sam".
3 minutes later
OK, I have to ask this. Now, I've heard of sniper rifle bullets going through more than one body at a time, but are handguns able to do that as well? Because Sam Harper grabbed one of the soldier's live body, and shot him through the stomach multiple times, and they're *also* able to go through the colonel's body from quite a distance to where he was standing. I admit, I don't own a handgun myself, but I'm really curious to see if it's possible that anyone could actually pull that off. I'm quite curious about that.
8 minutes later
All right, I know this is a minor point and all, but I find it really sorta douchey to let a loved one know that right after someone they were close to has died in the war, he immediately says that she'll get over this in due time. I understand that this high-ranking solder or colonel or whatever was trying to console her in his own way, but it still comes across as rather douchey and mean-spirited to me, you know what I mean?
7 minutes later
Hold up, something just came to me. So, Jody's attending school...in July? I know this, because the opening scene after the prologue is suppose to take place on the night of July 1st. And I'm going to assume this is the next day, meaning that it's now July 2nd. So, does that mean then that Jody is attending Summer School or something? I'm really curious about this, guys, because I really can't think of any other explanation that would make any sense about this.
8 minutes later
OK, I need to ask this, because this is starting to bother me slightly. Now, I admit, I don't exactly know what Jody's age is suppose to be in this movie. I'm just going to assume he's either suppose to be 9 or 10 years old here. And if that's the case, why is it that he's talking like he's 20 years old? I mean, I get that he's mourning over the death of his uncle, but it's a little bit jarring to see him talking as an adult rather than a kid his age. Just thought I'd mention that.
19 minutes later
OK, so far, out of the two kills I've seen Sam Harper commit, this one is the more methodical approach, where he simply just buries a guy alive, in Harper's own grave nonethless, after breaking one of his bones. I will say that it is definitely effective, even if it's a little bit on the slower side, in my eyes.
2 minutes later
All right, now that kill was definitely a little bit more creative. In which, Sam just hangs this guy on a flagpole until he dies. Again, it's a little bit more methodical, but it is still a little bit creative, I will say that much.
12 minutes later
Well, guys, so far, I've found the best kill in the entire movie. This fucking douchebag teenager gets killed by decapitation from a cleaver. That was pretty awesome. And well worth it, too.
10 minutes later
Well...just when I thought I found the best kill in the entire movie, the next one just topped itself. And we also got an extra kill, too, on top of that. I'm really starting to get more impressed with these kills, guys, they're really starting to win me over.
The Review
All right...well, guys, that was "Uncle Sam". And I'm gonna go ahead and shut this movie off here...OK. Wow, um...where to even start with this thing? I'm gonna be honest, guys, this one is gonna be a bit tough for me to review. Because, on one hand, this film does have a lot of positives. But on the other hand, there's just....something about it that doesn't exactly fit here. I'll get more into this in a second, but I am gonna let you guys know now that the movie is honestly just OK. I can't really say that it's a bad movie, or even a great one, it's just more so in the middle of it being a bit average. Which is honestly more disappointing for me, personally, because I love horror comedies, and this one, unfortunately sorta falters a bit in that area.
So, why don't we start off with something I normally start with in a lot of my reviews, which is the writing. And I have to start off with one of the big problems that this movie suffers from, which is it's pacing. Because for the 40 minutes or so, the pacing here is incredibly slow. It takes a long time for our titled character to finally make his appearance and start his killing spree. And the film itself is only 90 minutes long, but it still feels like it took forever just to get to that point. And, just to compare it with another horror movie that has a similar premise, "Jack Frost", the 1997 horror comedy, had the exact same runtime that this movie does. But the reason why it works better there is because, one, it was much better paced, and you actually got to see Jack Frost, the killer, really early on when he starts his killing. This movie, though, takes up a little too much time in getting to the meat of it's premise.
And while I'm on that subject, I want to talk about the next big problem that this movie has. Now, as I've mentioned before, I love horror comedies, especially ones that make me laugh. Now, of course, I totally understand that humor is subjective, and the humor for that genre may not appeal to everyone. But for me, personally, I love it, and when a horror comedy *does* make me laugh, then mission accomplished: You have succeeded in being really funny to me. And that's where this movie falters greatly with it's comedy. Most of is it isn't really that funny, aside from a moment where the douchebag teenager gets his head chopped off from a cleaver by Sam Harper. And it was funny there because, well, I really didn't like that fucking teenager, so it was completely satisfying the moment he got his head chopped off. But aside from that, there really wasn't a whole lot of funny moments here.
In fact, I believe I know why this thing falters on being a horror comedy. You see, this movie suffers from an identity crisis. I truly believe that this film was never meant to be a horror comedy to begin with. With the way the movie plays itself out, it felt like it wanted to take itself more seriously. You, the viewer, were suppose to take it's story, and setting, seriously. However, the problem with that is that it just doesn't work here. The story is really kinda boring, with it's characters being underdeveloped. Part of that has to do with it's really slow pacing, but the buildup to it also isn't really all that interesting anyways. Now if this thing leaned more on being self aware of it's plot, in which there is an undead soldier who comes back to life and is killing people masquerading as Uncle Sam, I think this would've been a whole lot funnier. But again, this movie doesn't really feel like much of a horror comedy, if at all.
And, again, I wanted to compare this thing with the 1997 "Jack Frost" movie. The main reason why it worked better there, aside from what I already said about it's pacing and the killer appearing early on, is that it was self aware of it's own premise. I mean, there was no way in hell the filmmakers there were gonna have you take that story seriously, what with it being about a killer snowman and all. And they knew it, too, because of how ridiculous the idea was, so they did their best to try and have fun with it. And it worked, too, for all the reasons I just listed. But this film, on the other hand, doesn't really do that very much. While there is some campiness to be found here, it doesn't really go all the way with it. It mostly tries to be a somewhat more serious story, and it fails at that, because it doesn't try to be more self aware of it's own plot. Which is what hurts this movie the most for me, because this kind of movie *should* be more hilarious. And on paper, it could've been great, but sadly, in terms of execution, it doesn't really work here.
Now, with all of the criticisms I've thrown at this movie already, you might think that I'm going to say that the movie's writing is completely terrible and that the movie really does suck. And while I've done that for a few movies that I've said about beforehand, I'm not going to do that for this one. Why? Well, like I said, I think there are quite a few positives to this thing. For one thing, most of the acting here is decent. It's not great, mind you, but it's definitely not as bad as it could've been. The best actor, by far, would have to be Isaac Hayes as Jed. The man is great at what he does, and this movie is no different. The actor, though, who I'm going levy against the most here is the child actor playing Jody. His acting in this movie is damn near wooden. He puts no effort into sounding emotional about anything, and it's kind of a double-edged sword here. Because on one hand, it sorta makes sense on his character's part to sound like that, because he really admired his uncle and wanted to be a soldier like him one day, but on the other hand, the actor playing him just doesn't know how to emote properly. But then again, this is also what happens when you put a child actor on camera and you make him the star of the movie. And I would've been fine with this if, again, his acting wasn't so wooden that it hurts, but it did. And it just comes across as completely terrible. But aside from him, most of the acting is decent for what it is. Again, it's not great, but it could've been a hell of a lot worse too.
Special effects in this movie are definitely the best thing about it. Most of that is gonna be contributed to the make-up effects and costuming that are used for Sam Harper. It looks great on him, with the yellowish eyes to the green, almost husk-looking skin that I want to say almost looks like Freddy Krueger's own skin, though whether that was intentional or not is something I can't say. Still though, it does look really good. The blood and gore effects are also really good, too, as is the kills that lead up to them...at least, when you get to see it. However, I'll get to that in a moment when I touch upon camerawork. But aside from that, guys, the special effects here are really good. And the set pieces look really good, too. This almost feels like you're actually at a 4th of July festival of sorts and it looks great. So I gotta give them a lot props there when it comes to that.
Camerawork here is mostly really good, except for a couple of certain moments. What moments are those, you might be wondering? Well, this movie, unfortunately, has a bit of a bad habit of cutting away from certain kills before they can be executed. In short, some kills are done off camera. And there are two moments in particular I remember this happening. The first one involves the very first kill of the movie, where Sam has a pair of shears. And before the shears are able to cut into his first victim...the camera cuts to black before moving onto the next scene. The other moment that this happens is when Jody's teacher gets killed with an ax. And this one bothers me the most because, on the morning of the festival, the movie was making a big deal out of this ax because, apparently, one of the kids dressed up as George Washington was suppose to be carrying it throughout the parade. I don't know what an ax has to do with George Washington, but whatever, point is, the movie was teasing about this ax, and I was hoping to see what the movie could do with an ax kill. Well, sadly, they cut this one too, as you mainly get to see the teacher falling down with an ax to the head. It's really disappointing to see this because why make a huge deal about it if you're not going to show the damn kill?! It makes no sense at all, and it makes the movie feel a little bit more cheaper than what it was already running on.
Now...aside from those moments, the camerawork here functions normally. The lighting here is lit perfectly fine. The sound-mixing is mixed well. The score here is mostly just forgettable, too. So unfortunately, I can't really say anything positive about this film's score. It's just really forgettable.
So...with all this in mind, guys, when all is said and done, am I able to recommend "Uncle Sam"? Kind of, yes, but only as a rental. I'd say that this movie is worth watching only once. I feel like, had this movie lived up to being more self aware of it's own premise, I would've said absolutely, and you should go find a copy of this movie somewhere, physically. However, seeing as how this movie has a lot of flaws to it's story that I just can't simply ignore, I would say that it's worth watching just once. Now, who knows? If you seriously want to check this thing out, you might really enjoy it more than I did. And hey, who knows? Perhaps maybe it could become a 4th of July tradition for you as well as something you could watch every year, too. Unfortunately for me, however, that's probably not gonna be the case. I don't see myself watching this thing again anytime soon. I'm more disappointed in it than anything else. Which is sad to say, but that's just how it is, sometimes. But still, I can recommend it to you guys, if you can somehow rent it, or find it somewhere on YouTube for free and you can watch it there. But to purchase a physical copy is something I'm not overly confident about. Luckily for me, my copy only costed about $7. So, I can't say I was entirely ripped off, but still...yeah, this thing just flat out disappointed me. So now, I'm gonna go and watch something else. I think I'm gonna go and watch my copy of "Escape From New York". Seeing as how I saw Isaac Hayes in this thing, and how awesome he was in "Escape From New York", I'm gonna go and watch that next, cause I really just sorta want to now. So, I'll go and do that next as soon I get done with this review.
And with that, guys, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.
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