It’s one of my favorite films from the 1990’s. The soundtrack is excellent, the one-liners from Kirby crack me up, and I love, love, love the cast. Bookeem Woodbine, Chris Tucker, Keith David, N’Bushe Wright, Clifton Powell and Terrence Howard are all here and they played their parts in a memorable way.

Hey @CelluloidFan,

I appreciate your comment, but I'd be remiss if I didn't express some misgivings about your referring to it as a "popcorn flick." Please don't get me wrong, you are certainly entitled to call it as you see it, and conversation is boring if we all see it the same way - on that note, then, here's the basis for my misgivings, for the sake of that conversation (and, I hope you are willing to entertain the conversation objectively).

Here's a sampling of war movie ratings here in TMDb:

• The Deer Hunter (1978), 80%
• Apocalypse Now (1979), 83%
• Platoon (1986), 77%
• Full Metal Jacket (1987), 81%
• Hamburger Hill (1987), 66%
• Born on the Fourth of July (1989), 70%
• Casualties of War (1989), 71%
• Dead Presidents (1995), 66%
• The Tuskegee Airmen (1995),68%
• Saving Private Ryan (1998), 82%
• We Were Soldiers (2002), 71%
• 1917 (2019), 79%
• Da 5 Bloods (2020), 66%

War movies that centre around white people (TDH, AN, P, FMH, BotFoJ, CoW, SPR, WWS, 1917) do solid average of 77.1%; yet, for war movies that centre around Black people (or present Black soldiers more prominently than usual, HH, DP, TTA, D5B) the average rating drops to a very consistent 66.5%, a full 11% lower - are all these movies, across the board, really 11% worse than their counterparts? Statistically, that's not likely.

When it comes to Black soldiers, not only did they not get the same respect/treatment as their white brothers (well documented, proving this is beyond the scope of this comment), their stories don't even get the same attention/respect. Referring to Dead Presidents as a "popcorn flick" comes across to me like dismissively patting it on the head while other stories are accorded more weight.

Is the trauma evinced in The Deer Hunter so much more dire and sad than what we saw in Dead Presidents? Or is it (and, obviously, I'm making a connection here) that Black pain is not as regarded as white pain? (again, the documentation is long and sordid across social contexts from medical to policing over 100 years of recorded history), "Black people don't feel/have a higher tolerance for pain").

It's very reasonable to acknowledge that people are empathic to people who look like them. Most of the viewing audiences out there are white, so they connect more to white characters on screen, and less to people who don't look like them. And, for all you veterans out there who really do see your brothers as all the same (as Mel Gibson captures so eloquently in We Were Soldiers, among the best war movies ever made and one of my favourites for several reasons), I'm not dismissing you, but most viewers are not veterans, so they don't have the same affinity that was forged for you in training and then in actual theatres.

As such, since it is unlikely that this set of movies are all simply (and magically!) 10% inferior, it is reasonable to recognize viewer bias being reflected rather consistently across these movie ratings and reviews.

But that's just my take.

Do you think your "popcorn flick" comment reflects any sort of bias on your part? (and, when I write "any sort", it is because I make no assumptions about who you are as a person).

If not, how do you rate those other movies? Are they "popcorn flicks" too? If so, fair enough; if not, why not?

Thank you for your consideration.

[Edit] I added 1917 which raised the average for its category.

@DRDMovieMusings said:

Hey @CelluloidFan,

I appreciate your comment, but I'd be remiss if I didn't express some misgivings about your referring to it as a "popcorn flick." Please don't get me wrong, you are certainly entitled to call it as you see it, and conversation is boring if we all see it the same way - on that note, then, here's the basis for my misgivings, for the sake of that conversation (and, I hope you are willing to entertain the conversation objectively).

Here's a sampling of war movie ratings here in TMDb:

• The Deer Hunter (1978), 80%
• Apocalypse Now (1979), 83%
• Platoon (1986), 77%
• Full Metal Jacket (1987), 81%
• Hamburger Hill (1987), 66%
• Born on the Fourth of July (1989), 70%
• Casualties of War (1989), 71%
• Dead Presidents (1995), 66%
• The Tuskegee Airmen (1995),68%
• Saving Private Ryan (1998), 82%
• We Were Soldiers (2002), 71%
• Da 5 Bloods (2020), 66%

War movies that centre around white people (TDH, AN, P, FMH, BotFoJ, CoW, SPR, WWS) do solid average of 76.8%; yet, for war movies that centre around Black people (or present Black soldiers more prominently than usual, HH, DP, TTA, D5B) the average rating drops to a very consistent 66.5%, a full 10% lower - are all these movies, across the board, really 10% worse than their counterparts? Statistically, that's not likely.

I agree.

When it comes to Black soldiers, not only did they not get the same respect/treatment as their white brothers (well documented, proving this is beyond the scope of this comment), their stories don't even get the same attention/respect. Referring to Dead Presidents as a "popcorn flick" comes across to me like dismissively patting it on the head while other stories are accorded more weight.

Is the trauma evinced in The Deer Hunter so much more dire and sad than what we saw in Dead Presidents? Or is it (and, obviously, I'm making a connection here) that Black pain is not as regarded as white pain? (again, the documentation is long and sordid across social contexts from medical to policing over 100 years of recorded history), "Black people don't feel/have a higher tolerance for pain").

It's very reasonable to acknowledge that people are empathic to people who look like them. Most of the viewing audiences out there are white, so they connect more to white characters on screen, and less to people who don't look like them. And, for all you veterans out there who really do see your brothers as all the same (as Mel Gibson captures so eloquently in We Were Soldiers, among the best war movies ever made and one of my favourites for several reasons), I'm not dismissing you, but most viewers are not veterans, so they don't have the same affinity that was forged for you in training and then in actual theatres.

As such, since it is unlikely that this set of movies are all simply (and magically!) 10% inferior, it is reasonable to recognize viewer bias being reflected rather consistently across these movie ratings and reviews.

But that's just my take.

Do you think your "popcorn flick" comment reflects any sort of bias on your part?

No, not racially. The film is a bit goofy in parts; hence, I lightly referred to it as such.

(and, when I write "any sort", it is because I make no assumptions about who you are as a person).

If not, how do you rate those other movies? Are they "popcorn flicks" too?

Some of them are to me.

If so, fair enough; if not, why not?

Thank you for your consideration.