Alexandre Moors’s adaptation of Kevin Powers’s titular novel follows two young soldiers from Virginia, 18-year-old Murph (Tye Sheridan) and 20-year-old Bartle (Alden Ehrenreich), who are preparing to ship out to Iraq. Ahead of their deployment, they attend a party where Murph’s mother (Jennifer Aniston) makes Bartle promise that he will personally deliver news to her if something happens to her son while in combat. This, of course, is a too-obvious signal that tragedy lurks ahead. Not surprisingly, when Bartle returns home without Murph but with an obvious case of PTSD, the question of Murph’s fate and Bartle’s role in his disappearance lead to flashbacks pointing to a somewhat foregone conclusion. While the film features a strong supporting cast—including Toni Collette as Bartle’s volatile mother and Jason Patric as an officer investigating what happened to Murph—the two young leads give strangely unmoving performances, creating an emotional void at the center of the story. Moors does a decent job of re-creating the horrors of the war zone, but is less secure plumbing the psychological issues that can follow. Optional. (P. Hall)
The Yellow Birds
Lionsgate, 95 min., R, DVD: $19.99, Blu-ray: $21.99, Aug. 14 Volume 33, Issue 6
The Yellow Birds
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