Boots on the Ground (2017) User Reviews (7)

Heavy breathing, flashlights and shadows is all that this movie has to offer

[manuelasaez · 3/10 · 26 May 2018]

I love found-footage films, but I have got to admit that there are more failures than successes when you refer to the genre. For every Grave Encounters and Paranormal Activity, there are movies that are made with too little a budget, not enough talent, and a complete disregard for the audiences time and patience. Boots on the Ground is one of those movies. One of the worst offenders in recent memory, this movie just does not do anything worth spending your time on.

The premise, while unique, is marred by a weak script with some truly banal dialogue, and I swear that the entire movie spends more time suggesting that there is something in the shadows than actually showing anything. With a more talented team, it might have worked, but when your main antagonist are shadows, it does nothing to illicit fear in the viewer.

This movie is wasted potential, and it's why I am so disappointed with it. It could have been a truly unique FF film, in that there are almost no military themed movies in the genre. Instead, we get another "horror on a budget", and we all know that you have to be an exceptional talent to make that work. It's a shame no one involved in this movie got the memo.

Very disappointing

[dkm1981 · 3/10 · 11 June 2019]

Again I struggle to understand the gulf in the opinions of the reviews for this movie. It seems people who have watched it either love it or hate it with very little middle ground.

Ok so here is the story. Five British soldiers stationed in Afghanistan (It actually looks more like some woods and abandoned buildings somewhere in England) battle supernatural forces on the last night of the Afghan war.

As soon as I saw the opening few shots and realised it was a handheld/found footage movie my heart sank. I can understand why film makers do it. Its cheap to produce, but rarely are these types of films done well and this was just another example of that. Of film makers too wrapped up in their idea to remember that the primary objective of a movie is to entertain its audience. This one fails on several levels.

The shots are messy and its hard to follow what's going on, the dialogue is average at best and the film feels incredibly slow. I would have to credit the actors who do their best to breathe life into the dull repetitive script. The performances are half decent although Sally Day's incessant shrieking towards the end of the movie had me reaching for the remote. All I kept picking up from the dialogue was something about being double crossed over the money and something about something being out there (by this point I was only half paying attention).

In short its a very poor effort and it comes across as another example of clueless film makers trying to make their mark by being edgy and alternative, while trying to fill diversity quotas.

WTF Old school squaddie moans and moans

[smd-66057 · 1/10 · 26 May 2018]

I seriously worry about the perception of 99% of the UK population have of British Army. After all, we only now have 78,000 service personnel of which 5% are teeth arm who will see actual combat. Which means these guys(and Girls) have been trained extremely well. They have 2 personalities. One on the job and one on downtime. On the job there is a professional support system. That means if one member of the team is lost others can take over. Just like the First world war to Afghanistan Privates and Corporals ended up making life and death decisions. So yes, a large percentage are working class from broken homes etc etc but they are not thick, stupid or immature when the military machine has realigned there civilian mind set from Ipad snowflakes of the world. They become mature adults. To an extent. Just dont get them drunk on downtime..Sorry? the movie? fast forwarded as soon as I saw the hand held first 5 seconds.

Don't Waste Your Time

[dylanv-48175 · 1/10 · 14 January 2019]

This movie is slow, poorly directed, and not scary at all. I actually found myself laughing at this film. It felt like it took 12 hours to watch.

Complex and different, a brain challenger!

[JTrufoLewis · 9/10 · 7 June 2018]

Boots On The Ground has been running round in my head ever since I saw it, what I ask from a horror movie is some good scares, a creepy atmosphere and the odd good joke, Boots On the Ground had them all for me and more, it really stays with you and makes you take time to unwind the complexity of its story, you don't get that in many horror films much these days, I would recommend this film to any horror fan that wants their brain challenged and who wants to see something visually new.

and camera on the helmet

[kosmasp · 6/10 · 18 October 2017]

So this has some fractions of Bunker movies but through the lens of .. found footage. Now that means that some shots are quite messy, because unlike many other found footage movies, this was actually shot by the actors. Well they just walked, ran and you know acted, with those things on their head.

It works to a degree if you suspend disbelief. And not only to the found footage fact, but also to the supernatural element to it. What this is exactly you have to find out by watching (it is actually decent, again if you can overcome a couple of flaws) or reading about it in a spoiler review I guess. It's draining at times and you could say irrational (though again on what scale would you judge the behavior) ... still an interesting effort and idea

The best thriller of all time!

[joesaunders-95099 · 10/10 · 10 May 2019]

Amazing! If you're bored on a rainy weekend I suggest you watch this amazing film, staring some of the best actors in the industry.