Is it just us, or did last night's Generation Kill finale seem like a movie of its own? It was markedly different in tone, rhythm and execution -- epic where other eps had just been frenzied, with touches of pathos, adventure, and even -- gasp -- self-awareness and metaphor that the previous installments had not quite dared to attempt. We can't be the only ones a little shocked that our final moments with the men of First Recon began with the letters "USA" written in piss, included a wickedly fun sequence depicting Marines infiltrating a building that had already been seized by the Americans, and ended with a football game marked more by infighting than sportsmanship -- a climax if not borrowed from than at least referential to Robert Altman's antiwar classic M*A*S*H. Sure, it's probably in the book -- which we confess we are now reading -- but the decision to leave it in the script can't be ignored.
The new, expansive approach to the filmmaking gave the unraveling of the invasion an added poignancy, most notably in how it allowed the actors to fill small or quiet moments with their growing unease. As Lt. Fick, Stark Sands had one great scene -- his refusal to send his troops into the field until dawn, which came off as both indignant and self-doubting -- but the real stars of the episode were Alexander Skarsgård, James Ransone, and Jonah Lotan as Iceman, Ray, and Doc Bryan. Their moments of hushed disappointment were as affecting as any of the senseless violence that had come before, and Ray's blowup at the football game brought his character into a sharp, unexpectedly intimate focus that caught us wholly off-guard. Nearly everyone in the series did some great acting -- including Rudy Reyes as himself, something we just realized -- but those four guys need to be stars as of yesterday.
