In The Mosquito Bowl, director Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights, Deepwater Horizon, but also Hancock) follows four standout college football players from the gridiron to the battlefield as America enters the Pacific Theater of World War II.
Purdue star Tony Butkovich (played by Ray Nicholson), Wisconsin standouts Dave Schreiner (Tom Francis) and Bob Bauman (Bill Skarsgård), and former Brown player John McLaughry (Nicholas Galitzine) reunite in the South Pacific, where the petty banter between former football rivals quickly gets eclipsed by the horrors of war.
War Is Hell, But We’ve Seen It Before
There’s nothing new about The Mosquito Bowl that you haven’t seen in most harrowing tales of the Greatest Generation. The nauseating realism of war pollutes the air with unending dirt, blood, ammunition, and the occasional limb. The Mosquito Bowl doesn’t shy away from the very simple truth that war is indeed hell.
The problem with the film is that we know this already.
Relying on more shock than awe in combat scenes that make up the bulk of the movie quickly becomes repetitive. War things, quiet banter with the boys, more war, more banter. Rinse, repeat.
The Game Deserves More Than a Passing Glance
Which is unfortunate, because The Mosquito Bowl is based on a specific makeshift football game played on Guadalcanal on Christmas Eve in 1944. The game itself was a brief reprieve from combat, but the film lacks the depth to convey how truly special this moment was for a few hundred guys who got the chance to mentally escape their grim reality.
It’s the lack of investment in the titular event that makes you wonder why the film chose to name itself after the game instead of something broader.
Aside from the game, The Mosquito Bowl doesn’t look or feel any different from most high-octane war machine flicks, where fresh-faced bastions of freedom endure wave after wave of faceless enemies.
It’s all loud and muted in gray and sunlit sepia tones, but it’s all been done before. I can praise its chest-thumping sound design and visually arresting grittiness. However, this is the type of film that wants to say a lot, but nothing substantive comes out.
Reporter / Film Critic
I have always loved stories. Whether it’s in books or movies, I’m a sucker for a compelling story. Compared to watching television, seeing movies in a theater has always been a visceral experience. There’s just something about having the full IMAX experience or sharing an unspoken moment of anguish, joy and laughter with complete strangers. Movies have always had a special place in my heart and that’s what brings me back to the theater. As the amount of prequels, sequels and spinoffs increase, I’ve increased my efforts to see more different, and compelling stories. I hope the reviews that follow reflect my efforts to take my moviegoing off the beaten path.
When I’m not in your local theater, I’m probably at a baseball game or wrestling event. Do drop me a line on the Twitter Machine @GiantKrabb