when controversial german director uwe boll ( house of the dead ) first announce that he want to shoot an absolutely uncompromising and blunt and brutal movie about the cruelty of the vietnam war and not just a few critic shake their head in disbelief and predict a major failure on all level a they just couldn not imagine that infamous filmmaker and who once knock out four internet bashers in a boxing challenge and to tackle such a serious subject with the needed amount of tactfulness and sincerity . and i get ta admit that even though i be quite a huge fan of uwe boll work and i personally wasn not 100 % sure either what to expect from a project like this . but now that i finally get my hand on a dvd of say film and ultimately get to see tunnel rat ( i miss the flick short theatrical run here in germany ) and i can say with a clear conscience that all those badmouths be once again a bit too fast with their criticism and concern and cause apparently tunnel rat turn out to be a pretty neat and well do war movie and whose intensity and brutality will not leave you cold . the film and which be set in the jungle of cu chi in 1968 and tell the tragic story of a group of young american soldier lead by the hard boil sgt . hollowborn ( michael pare ) who get order to explore and secure a complex tunnel system which the vietcong use to move through the jungle without be hear or see . a soon the gis step down into the dark and narrow corridor and however and they get ta learn the hard way that their enemy be way more accustomed to the unusual surroundings and skilled in the antic of guerrilla warfare than they be and hence it doesn not take long until one gi after the other have to face a merciless death and the defeat of the whole platoon seem almost inevitable in an early interview and uwe boll once say that one of his main intent for tunnel rat be to show the absurdity and senselessness of war . those guy who fight for their country with gun in their hand be all young and vital and full of hope and dream and ambition . they get their whole life ahead of them and but early than they have bargain for and they have to realize that in a game like this there only loser but no winner . and when theyre leave to die all on their own a thousand mile away from home and they do not feel like hero at all and pride and glory be about the last thing that they think of the whole pointlessness of war be a constant and reoccurring theme in tunnel rat and just like war itself ain not exactly fun and enjoyment and this film be also far from be your typical good time bubblegum blockbuster tunnel rat be very slow paced and very raw and very dirty and very brutal and very pessimistic and very honest . it surely lack the epic proportion of big war movie such a platoon and apocalypse now and full metal jacket and but it make up for this with sheer intensity and a great dose of suspense while the latter be mainly the product of uwe boll make really good use of the perilous environment throughout the whole course of the movie . no matter whether the gi be march through the thick green hell of the jungle or crawl through the claustrophobic constriction of the tunnel and you can not help but feel a constant uneasiness and uncomfortableness and which ultimately find it climax in a devastating and truly shatter finale that you would not soon forget . be more of light hearted kind of guy and i have to say that i personally do not enjoy tunnel rat as much a i enjoy uwe boll action pack and over the top no brainers such a house of the dead and bloodrayne and in the name of the king and but this doesn not change the fact at all that tunnel rat be still one of uwe most atmospheric and coherent film so far and definitely worth watch for all fan of unsparing war movie such a john rambo and co .