Just now getting a release is a strange but compelling movie called Man Down, starring an actor for whom I have little feeling, Shia LaBeouf.  However, he’s pretty good in this modern war / family drama / apocalypse story.  Yes, that’s an odd description, because this is an odd movie.  And in order for it to make sense one has to stick with it until the end, because its tricky plot only becomes clear in the last ten or fifteen minutes — although clever viewers may figure it out before then (I did not).

Marine Gabriel Drummer (LaBeouf) enlists and goes to Afghanistan, leaving his pretty wife (Kate Mara) and young son John (Charlie Shotwell) behind.  Also staying behind is his best friend, Devin Roberts (Jai Courtney), due to a broken arm.  Roberts joins his buddy a couple of months later, just in time to be ambushed on a routine patrol; that ambush changes both of their lives forever.  The film bounces back and forth between Drummer’s life before enlisting to his tour in Afghanistan to a monochromatic future in which most of America has seemingly succumbed to some sort of biological disaster; Drummer and Roberts wander across the wasteland looking for signs of Drummer’s family.

Dito Montiel’s film creates suspense — and confusion — in this manner, because one keeps wondering what happened back home while the men were fighting in Afghanistan.  Clues are apparent, but I was unable to make sense of them.  Things become clearer only gradually as Drummer is made to talk to a counselor (Gary Oldman) after the traumatic “incident” on patrol.  And when the puzzle pieces are finally provided, enlightenment occurs.  I must say that the ending floored me, and while I think I should have seen it coming, I was genuinely moved by how the film portrayed its central theme.  Film, like magic, is often used to dazzle and distract, but here it is done for a purpose, an important purpose.  The ending makes the movie.

I’ve seen a number of war-themed films lately, and while Hacksaw Ridge has been the best of them, this one, though certainly different, has as much or more to convey about how war affects and changes its participants and their loved ones.  It is somewhat similar in theme to Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk as well, but this story goes farther and risks more in the telling.  I found it quite profound and plan to see it again someday to get a different perspective, now knowing what it is trying to reveal.  I definitely recommend it to serious film fans.  ☆ ☆ ☆.  8 December 2016.