The War (1994)

IMDb plot summary: A Vietnam veteran helps his kids battle over a tree house while recovering from his traumatic war experience.

Directed by Jon Avnet. Starring Elijah Wood, Kevin Costner, and Mare Winningham.

The War stars Elijah Wood as a young boy and Kevin Costner as his veteran father who can't seem to get his life pulled together after coming home from the war. The story primarily follows the conflicts that arise from the boy wanting to get violent revenge on his bullies and the father absolutely abhorring any kind of physical violence now. While this could be a well-told story, this version of it just kind of... sits there. Costner is often named as being a bad actor, but he's had his good moments through his career, and he's not *bad* here so much as just uninspired. Wood has been much better in other "sad child" up to this point and also feels like he's phoning in most of the emotional beats. The most engaging moments come from the subplot focusing on our narrator, who despite being the narrator is relegated to a background character much of the time, and it's a shame because her story is told more effectively than the rest. It's one of those films that it's hard to scrounge up enough to say about it.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The War < Bad Education

The War > Pepito and the Magic Lamp

The War > Adam

The War < Steamboat Bill, Jr.

The War > Incredibles 2

The War < The Jerk

The War < Camelot

The War < The Love Bug

The War < Mother, Jugs & Speed

The War < Do You Like Hitchcock?

The War < Company (2011)

The War < The Year Without a Santa Claus

Final spot: #2246 out of 3783, or 41%.