Director Joel Schumacher seems to be a pretty likeable guy. It's just sad that although there are some really good moments in "8mm," "PHONE BOOTH," "FLATLINERS" and "FALLING DOWN," he has never been able to make a completely "good" film. Well, "8mm" came close, actually, but mostly due to the script and some restraint from Cage.  Before his most recent horrible film, "12," Schumacher made a close to semi-good effort with "TIGERLAND." Colin Farrell gives a terrific performance in a terribly uneven film as "Bozz," a draftee amongst others at a Louisiana military training camp, called Fort Polk. It's not certain where Farrell's character is heading in terms of transition during the first 30 minutes of the film. Alternating between cocky, defiant, caring and funny, he doesn't want to fight the war he's heading towards in this 1971 setting.  However, the inner traits that make Farrell inspiring to others gets him promoted to squadron leader, and he utilizes this position to make a difference in the best way he sees at hand. His decisions, while sometimes subtle, sometimes confrontational are what "TIGERLAND" is about, or at least "is" when it's good. Unfortunately, the script doesn't really go anywhere, and the direction seems to take a nose-dive right when it needs to be confident about its focus. Attempting a documentary-like approach only works well when the viewer can still find themselves immersed into the story. That feat is never accomplished here, and the look of the film ends up feeling too obvious and heavy-handed long before the film reaches its 2nd half, and it never recovers from this problem.

The performances are all quite good. It's a well-cast film! Some of the dialogue is also good. But, in a dialogue-heavy film, with no action other than inner-conflict, there's no room for triteness and there's more than a fair share of it here.

There are a few stand-out moments wherein "TIGERLAND" really looks like it could be a "great" anti-war film. Unfortunately, while not a "bad" film, it's just not really that good, and hard to recommend.

FOX has provided the correct 1.85:1 aspect ratio for this AVC MPEG-4 1080p release. Leave it to Schumacher to screw up what "he" is in control of!!! Choosing to shoot in 16mm, presumably for a documentary feel, the film had also been overly processed. So, the result is a melting pot of everything unattractive on film. Colors are reduced to something barely more colorful than black&white in many scenes. Detail is no better than an average looking low-budget film. Contrast is also mediocre, due to poor black levels in a frequently dark film. This isn't a problem with the blu-ray mastering. It looked this crappy in the theatrical presentation. Yuck!

FOX has provided a DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix. While not intended to be aggressive, surrounds, bass and occasional panning effects enhance the better moments of the film. Being a dialogue-heavy film, the mix does a good job in providing fine fidelity throughout, especially in terms of blending dialogue with the occasionally effective score.

In addition to the extras carried over from the dvd release, there are some new ones offered. The screenwriter discusses his real-life experience at "Tigerland," and its impact in making him write the script.  A 20 minute featurette interviewing vets with their own recollections of "Tigerland," and an interview with the director(all in 1080p)are better than the actual film.