Full Battle Rattle
First Run Features | Release Date: July 9, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
72
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 9 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
The title, by the way, is age-old slang for a soldier's complete combat gear, which for the U.S. soldiers in Iraq -- both real and otherwise -- weighs over 50 pounds. Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
Full Battle Rattle works just fine as a two-fisted combat story, with unexpected bursts of violence peppering that old universal message that war is hell. Read full review
80
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
Gives a remarkably thorough and detailed account of the difficult conditions facing American soldiers in Iraq. Read full review
80
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
If Full Battle Rattle begins as surreal, almost goofball farce, with a bunch of beefy guys playing a fancy-dress version of laser tag in the desert -- aided by a bunch of rented Iraqis who'd rather be watching TV in suburbia -- it ends on an ambiguous and haunting note, much closer to tragedy. Read full review
75
New York PostV.A. Musetto
It is up to each viewer to decide if the Mojave project is a stroke of genius or a very expensive boondoggle. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
The film is freaky, amusing, and sickening in equal measures—part fly-on-the-wall vérité, part multiple-perspective Altmanesque tragicomedy. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
It's all a bit bizarre. One soldier tellingly calls it "one big reality TV show," and the movie never makes clear whether such training does any good. Read full review
50
VarietyEddie Cockrell
A so-so pic on an incendiary subject, Full Battle Rattle follows the training regimen of one battalion during engagement and occupation in one of 13 fake "villages" comprising a massive Iraq simulation somewhere in the Mojave Desert. Read full review
50
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Set off by sprightly graphics and shimmering with over-bright colors, Full Battle Rattle has a fake transparency. The movie arouses, without gratifying, a desire to see the camera. Read full review
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