The Last Full Measure - Review

The Last Full Measure

“The Last Full Measure” is a war drama film written and directed by Todd Robinson. The film's title is taken from Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, where Lincoln honors the fallen, to which they "gave the last full measure of devotion". It stars Sebastian Stan (The Avengers), Oscar Winner Christopher Plummer, Oscar Winner William Hurt, real life husband and wife actors Ed Harris & Amy Madigan, Samuel L. Jackson, Jeremy Irvine, John Savage (The Deer Hunter) and the late Peter Fonda (Easy Rider) in his final film role.

The film tells the story of William H. Pitsenbarger, a United States Air Force Pararescue man who flew rescue missions during the Vietnam War to aid downed soldiers and pilots, and the 34 year quest to have him posthumously and reverse upwardly (rare) awarded the Medal of Honor. Pitsenbarger was killed in the Battle of Xa Cam My aiding and defending a unit of soldiers pinned down by an enemy assault. Before his death he helped save over 60 men in the battle.

REVIEW: Rotten Tomato has this film rated with a 61 rated score. In my rather blunt opinion this is one of the single worse ratings in my memory in either print media or this website I have ever seen. For me I found “The Last Full Measure” already to be the best film I have seen in this brief year and assuredly will be in my top 10 listing for 2020.

You may not know this film was actually released in Los Angeles on December 25^th, 2019 to possibly qualify for the recently announced Oscar nominations. Somehow the voting Academy managed to overlook this film by not offering it a single nomination…………I have no reasonable explanation why. The film “Gravity” went into production early in 2011 with initially a scheduled late 2012 release. But because it was determined that those other films in 2012 were competitively steep by its Director and Warner Brothers, they held the film out essentially a total of 2 years before it eventually hitting the big screen 2013. The result was it garnering several well-earned Oscar Nominations including Best Picture and winning Best Director. Maybe in hindsight the distributor Roadside Attractions Productions should have followed a similar path to releasing it in 2020 instead as well.

Directed and executed in an ensemble format with a running time of 1:55 minutes, the film move rather methodically and procedurally throughout. Step by step we move towards a conclusion and plot outcome we clearly already know going in. But even through its early careful, at times almost impassive execution; it seemingly almost devoid of any heavy emotional weight, the story begins to slowly, thoughtfully and meticulously grab you by the emotional throat about those brave anonymous veterans who fought valiantly in an unpopular war only to return sometimes to a less than grateful nation. A nation who did not always adorn them with praise for their bravery and sacrifices, but rather more often through a curious probative prism of “what did you do in the war”. Little did anyone know then these same brave veterans coming home were already pre-judging and questioning themselves with baggage filled with tons of doubt and haunting self-persecuting memories of “what they did not do in the war”.

There are multiple fine acting performances showcased here and even though there were a few scenes that were a tad heavy with melodrama and sentimentality, in the end i found “The Last Full Measure” to be an amazing true story that works effectively. It works because it’s both an examination of a soldier’s real life as well as a reminder of all those other soldiers who historically have sacrificed “their full measure” with displays of valor that sometimes saved lives. Often the lives of people they often did not know but were still bonded by a love for a common flag, a common country and a common uniform. Valor not as an acquired attribute taught and learned from a school book story lesson, but rather as a spiritual byproduct and offspring of those deep personal values uniquely nurtured and honed by fathers, mothers and families. The same kind of values by the external observing others as being so exceptional that it needs recognition with the highest regard and exemplary distinction in life and even more distinction on a loftier plain in their self sacrificing death.

“The Last Full Measure” is a must see.

4.00 Stars