"Rescue Dawn" - B+

Ok . . . so my consecutive reviews of Christian Bale flicks took a slight detour with the recent unveiling of that zombie pic. But you should always know that this blog breaks for Romero. (His comment, "It takes a lot to scare me, man," was just priceless ....)

Anyway, it's back to business with the 2006 release, "Rescue Dawn," which is relatively new to DVD. This Bale movie was a real undertaking, which is why 2006 only brought this one and "The Prestige."

And when you see what they had to go through to get this one done, you'll understand why there wasn't much else going on .....

Flight plan for the story: Bale is Dieter Dengler, a German native with a desire for nothing more than to fly the fastest planes he could access. As a young boy, he had seen the gleaming eyes of the pilots bombing his home town, he wanted nothing more than to assume the control and power he witnessed.

Dieter got his chance in the service of the U.S. Navy in the beginning of the Vietnam era. His first venture met with disaster as he ended up in Laos as a prisoner of war. But his story of survival and an unbelievable trek through the merciless jungle are a tale for the ages.

Realistic to an unknown degree: There is so much "living it" going on here that it's almost a documentary. Those skin-and-bone appearances aren't makeup or computer-generated graphics; the actors became dangerously thin to stay truthful to the account of these POWs. And yes, they really ate the bugs served for lunch.

Everyone credited the gonzo direction of one Werner Herzog for bringing out the best in Bale, usually funny guy Steve Zahn and the rest. Herzog was knee-deep in the jungle with the leads, cutting through the dense underbrush; he was with them floating down the same snake-filled river. Herzog was living the same intense, hellish conditions as everyone else.

The final product shows the drive everyone had to honor the memory of Dengler and the others who were not so lucky. They all wanted to bring the real-life drama to a new generation, and they accomplished their mission. The scenes are moving, the tension is high and the heroics are admirable.

And, you'll get another strong argument for why Bale might be one of the better actors working in mainstream film today. See it for yourself, and then let me know what you think.

Grade: B + (of the highest available degree ...)