Thank You for Your Service Movie Review
*Keep the Ticket
This movie is based on a true story about a war veteran and his two friends’ struggles with trying to fit back into civilian life after being deployed in Iraq for almost a year. During their journey of assimilating back to a ‘normal’ lifestyle, they face issues, such as PTSD and learning how to be a part of a family again. Throughout the movie, we get to see each character work through their problems and either end up getting or not getting the help they need before it’s too late for them.
Beforehand, I had only watched part of the trailer, so I did not have too many preconceived notions about what I wanted from this movie or what would even happen in the movie. However, I definitely did not expect it to tug on the heartstrings. My eyes watered up more than a few times and some man tears were shed.
That being said, plot of Thank You for Your Service is predictable at times, yet unpredictable at others. It is written in a way that, for the most part, people have to pay attention so they do not miss something that is important to the overall story or get confused, and I liked that. It forced me to pay attention to it and not check my phone during the film.
Even though the plot is intriguing enough, the dialogue suffers at times, coming off as clunky, sounding like it was written for a movie. Some of the lines were awkward for the actors to say, making the actors seem like they are struggling to say the dialogue. However, the poor dialogue did not take too much from the performances in the movie.
I really enjoyed the performances from the main characters in the movie. Miles Teller and Haley Bennett (wife of Miles Teller’s character) portrayed the characters they were tasked with very well. Each person made me care about each of their characters at different times, even if it did take some time for them to win me over with some of the dialogue they were given.
Even though the movie is written in a way that you have to pay attention so as to not miss anything, there are times when the pacing gets off. Throughout the movie, there are chunks of time where the pace speeds up and it feels like we are bombarded with information so quickly that the movie no longer feels like it’s progressing naturally, but rather it’s being forced to progress. That does make it a relief when it slows back down to a normal, natural pace, though.
The movie visually looked good and was filmed in a way to make it feel just like real life, nothing too fancy went on in terms of lighting and cinematography. There was nothing I saw on screen that really blew me away outside of just what was happening with the story or the acting at different points. Because of this, Thank You for Your Service probably will never be nominated for a cinematography award.
Thank You for Your Service has some tougher scenes to get through, whether that is because of the poorer dialogue or because of what is happening on screen emotionally and physically. I had a nice little roller coaster of emotions throughout the movie and I think that is what is meant to happen. This movie is meant to pull at you a little and get you to think about what you are watching and feel for some characters we meet, while not feeling much for others.
In the end, Thank You For Your Service is an emotional movie, based on a true story, that connects you with great characters and good overall story. I am going to say that I will have to keep this ticket.