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Tanker movie coming up - Thunder Run


daskal

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Having read the book I cant wait for this one, probably going to be Hollywood style, but going to be still nice though. I guess we even have folks here having participated in the actual Operations.

I think Hollywood does sort of have a profound effect on gaming as well, and this one could sort of pump up focus/interest on tanks in games for the future. If I think of two particular titles that have shaped FPS since their release I am having high hope for this one as well.

Saving Private Ryan - I think it was primarily the initial spark for genre of WW2 themed FPS games back then starting with Medal of Honor then Call of Duty.

Black Hawk Down - brining up modern warfare in FPS games ever since, so I hope its going to turn out similarly with this flick as well.

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"'Thunder Run' is the untold story..." WTF? The book's been out there for years, and they even show the cover of it. "All CG movie" doesn't sound too great IMO either. While you can do a lot with CGI, too much of it will make the movie look cheap (which indeed is the whole point of CGI, after all).

Still, as there are virtually no decent armor movies out there, I'm looking forward to it. It will probably make me cringe in my seat and and to scream in the theater about all the shit that they can't get right, yet it will probably be better than the alternative, which is to NOT have a modern day tank movie.

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"'Thunder Run' is the untold story..." WTF? The book's been out there for years, and they even show the cover of it. "All CG movie" doesn't sound too great IMO either. While you can do a lot with CGI, too much of it will make the movie look cheap (which indeed is the whole point of CGI, after all).

Still, as there are virtually no decent armor movies out there, I'm looking forward to it. It will probably make me cringe in my seat and and to scream in the theater about all the shit that they can't get right, yet it will probably be better than the alternative, which is to NOT have a modern day tank movie.

now,now its a start.whos directing?

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The director is mentioned by name and shown with a photo pretty early on in that 76 seconds clip.

Simon West,never hrd of him.well theres hope,atleast they didt F'up BHD

his film bio

Mariah Mundi: The Midas Box (2012)

Stolen (2012)

The Mechanic (2011)

When a Stranger Calls (2006)

Keen Eddie (executive producer) (2003)

Black Hawk Down (executive producer) (2001)

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)

The General's Daughter (1999)

Con Air (1997)

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Don't forget the actors themselves... Gerard Butler, Sam Worthington and Matthew McConahae? Seriously, why couldn't I get screened for a video op in Hollywood for all my tanker brothers! Just to chat it up with the guy from Star Wars: Episodes 1-3, the man who made Law-Abiding Citizen so amazing, and the comedic relief of Matthew's stuff from Tom Clancy's books-turned-movies... I mean dad-gum! :lol:

But yeah, I do pray they don't mess up those CGI shots... I always envisioned a CGI shot with a barrel-to-target view of a sabot going into an enemy tank. :)

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Still, as there are virtually no decent armor movies out there, I'm looking forward to it. It will probably make me cringe in my seat and and to scream in the theater about all the shit that they can't get right, yet it will probably be better than the alternative, which is to NOT have a modern day tank movie.

Good, noone mentioned "Lebanon" so far...my blood pressure can remain calm. Same worries about the CGI. However it's a bit odd you can get Black Hawks and Little Birds for BHD(ok it took them some real convincing) but not a mech company for TR. Especially when this is pretty much a tribute to US soldiers in the making. The unbelievable fight for "Curly" must be done right. But I will be looking forward to it as I tried to collect any bits and pieces I could find about that operation over the years.

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I always envisioned a CGI shot with a barrel-to-target view of a sabot going into an enemy tank. :)

The "money shot", over in less than 2 seconds :eek2: :redface: :cul:

BHD was a good movie, the Mechanic was OTT and ok, funny in places as well but it wasn't a great movie, the Charles Bronson one was better. I'll watch Thunder Run when it comes out.

Good, noone mentioned "Lebanon" so far...my blood pressure can remain calm.
heheheh managed to watch oh nearly 10 minutes of that before I gave up in disgust, still laying in Scotland wouldnt give it room in my luggage to bring it home with me.
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Tanks simply are difficult to film. If you employ them doctrinally correct, not only do you need vast film sets that are impossible to control, you also have comparatively huge distances between the tanks themselves that it is very hard to convey the power of an entire tank company (let alone a battalion) moving in unison.

So, CGI despite the problems associated with it probably is the only way to arrange all units close enough on the screen to create the associated feelings on a visceral level.

It's similar with the inside of a tank, even it it is needlessly spacy as an M1 Abrams. You can put multiple GoPro Hero2 cameras inside of a (real) tank to capture the crew actions, but studio quality film cameras? No way. You need film sets of that.

I think, primarily it's these purely technical problems that make it particularly difficult to direct movies about armor ... or extremely costly, which in the end amounts to about the same issue: That it is much easier and cheaper to make a movie about dismounted infantry.

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Simon West,never hrd of him.well theres hope,atleast they didt F'up BHD

his film bio

Mariah Mundi: The Midas Box (2012)

Stolen (2012)

The Mechanic (2011)

When a Stranger Calls (2006)

Keen Eddie (executive producer) (2003)

Black Hawk Down (executive producer) (2001)

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)

The General's Daughter (1999)

Con Air (1997)

How bad was "When a Stranger Calls" that his next movie came out half a decade after?

Con Air wasn't bad, just a little too John Woo-ish...

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I know one studio had some converted "M1A1"s based on Chieftains kicking around, I know they made 4 at least. They were used in "The Incredible Hulk." (Eric Bana version)

They were/are Tiger 1 ala T-55 quality.

So I guess they might use those for up close shots....

Edit: Ah right, all CGI, probably equals a Toy Story (All Animated) type film....

Edited by Hedgehog
watched the youtube clip
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  • 1 year later...
...it's these purely technical problems that make it particularly difficult to direct movies about armor.

Medal of Honor did a pretty good job of conveying the limits of space and freedom inside a tank, AIR.

True the in-turret stuff was maybe a couple of minutes; true also that you'd want a lot more than that for a crews'-eye view of the issue. Still...

Shot

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I hope the Iraq soldiers speak Arabic (with dialogue), and not English. Pentagon should donate some money, tanks, equipment, and use the movie as an advertising tool. Instead of sending tanks to Egypt for money, Fix some up and rent a portion of them to Hollywood. Running a company of tanks for a week probably cost the same as an A list actors price tag.

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The problem isn't in itself CGI, but what they do with it. For example, you could have a CGI battle between an army of dragons and orcs, and do it different ways for different effects.

CGI tempts filmmakers to throw in as much action in a scene as possible, show as many monsters or machines within a scene to show the vastness and scale of the events, with fast tracking camera shots swooping in and out as if flying through everything- this is usually the wrong way to do it if it is sustained for too long. It tends to remove the audience from any intimate perspective and in the end you just see a lot of frenetic, video game like action. After a while it just gets old and there are no protagonists to connect the audience, just a vast amount of stuff happening.

Saving Private Ryan was effective because even if it had used CGI, the film was still shot in a more documentary format with hand held cameras- action would be shown from the individual person's perspective rather than a god's eye view swooping around and attempting to show you everything. No individual character would have these perspectives, so in order to connect the audience, we shouldn't either, save for just sequences that absolutely needs to convey information outside of the perspective of an individual.

So, I believe the issue really is more a documentary style vs. action film style rather than CGI or no CGI, the CGI tempts filmmakers to make it action style because it affords them the tools to show all these things rather easy; the filmmakers just need to retain the basics of telling a story. CGI is fine but with focus.

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I hope the Iraq soldiers speak Arabic (with dialogue), and not English. Pentagon should donate some money, tanks, equipment, and use the movie as an advertising tool. Instead of sending tanks to Egypt for money, Fix some up and rent a portion of them to Hollywood. Running a company of tanks for a week probably cost the same as an A list actors price tag.

There is a special section in the U.S. military where film makers can request

The use of military equipment, the movie courage under fire originally got permission

But the military were not happy about something so withdrew it,the production team bought Some surplus M-60 instead.

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