20 Underrated Movies From 2000 You've Probably Never Seen
7. Tigerland
Released: 6th October 2000 (US)
People who only know Joel Schumacher as "the man who ruined Batman" are really missing out, not only on the hyper-stylised 80s movies that made his name but also on a brief post-Batman And Robin career renaissance as a director of relatively restrained dramatic movies.
Tigerland was the last stopping point for US infantrymen before shipping out to Vietnam, a training camp in Louisiana whose humid climate was supposed to replicate the environmental conditions of South East Asia. In Tigerland the movie, Colin Farrell plays a rebellious drafted soldier newly arrived at the camp and desperate to do what he can to get kicked out. Unfortunately, his ability to think for himself sees him flagged up as a potential leader instead.
The movie doesn't break any particular new ground as a story of the dehumanising process that turns individuals into soldiers, but Schumacher brought a gritty, grainy documentary feel a million miles from his high camp Batman, which makes for a well crafted movie. Meanwhile, the then-unknown Farrell marked himself out as one to watch with a performance that is charismatic, intense and engaging.
It may have been a massive box office bomb (losing virtually all of its $10 million budget) but Tigerland deserves to be rediscovered today.