The Writer's Poke

Maybe the oddest relationship to think about in this movie is the friendship between Peter (Tobey Maguire) and Harry Osburn (James Franco). What exactly makes them friends?  I guess I'm wondering this because they come from two different social classes, and they haven't exactly known each other for that long. Peter isn't the most popular kid in school, and yet here he is hanging around a rich kid who probably would have his pick of friends -- both because of his background, but also because of his looks.  Peter and Harry end up being roommates, which is convenient for the movie's plot, but how much does an apartment in New York run, and is Peter actually paying half the rent?  In terms of "friend values," why does Harry think it's okay to date Mary Jane (Kirsten Dunst)? He must know it's not okay, as he keeps dating Mary Jane a secret from Peter. Only when he knows Peter knows does he offer the cop out: "Well, you weren't making a move." ...

I guess I never realized that Sgt. Elias (Willem Dafoe) was the soldier on the movie poster. This re-viewing hit me in a way that past viewings haven't. I'm not sure why. Why would a college student, Chris (Charlie Sheen), drop out of school to enlist as a grunt? Maybe he was looking to be treated like one of the boys, because we certainly see that low-ranking officers, like the Lieutenant, aren't respected at all.  It's the grunts who fight, and it is the grunts who basically make the war happen.  Oliver Stone gives us just about everything we need to understand the war in four simple "acts": 1. The Ambush. Chris has only been in-country a week when he's on his third nighttime patrol. No one has taught him anything about patrols, and on this patrol, they're ambushed.  In films like this, you see the Americans going out to find and engage the enemy. The enemy must be doing the same, but this film, like most American war films, doesn't show us the e...