Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

Thank You for Your Service Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman January 20, 2018

Washington Post Journalist David Finkel wrote the nonfiction book on which Thank You For Your Service is based. The film, from first-time Director Jason Hall (writer, American Sniper), follows the lives of several service members, recently returned home from the war in Iraq, who find themselves fighting for survival on a new battlefield, one where guns and bombs are not the enemy. Rather, they battle their own psychological breakdowns, fear of failure and admitting the problem, and bureaucratic red tape. War films of recent times have certainly shied away from the glorification of war championed by the pictures of yore, favoring a grittier, more realistic and challenging view of conflict, both the difficult physical challenges and the dangerous emotional responses. Thank You For your Service takes the War film to its next stopping point, depicting servicemen who look for safety, security, and freedom from their pasts in a world where they have only themselves, one another, and if they're lucky, a loving spouse and an appointment with a professional well on down the line to care for them.

Coming home...but to what?

Staff Sergeant Adam Schumann (Miles Teller), Specialist Tausolo Aieti (Beulah Koale), and Billy Waller (Joe Cole) return home from Iraq to find themselves lost, in pain, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Adam returns home to a loving wife (Haley Bennett) who is willing to do anything to help ease her husband's pain. Tausolo's wife Alea (Keisha Castle-Hughes) is pregnant. Billy's finance has left him, a move he does not take well. As the three attempt to make the transition back to civilian life, the truths of their actions in Iraq and the realities they face at home leave them broken and in search of help, from one another and their families but also a system that fails them time and again, stretching them to their limits and leaving them questioning their very worths and existences.

Red blood and red tape are the catalysts for pain and the prevention from finding relief from it in Thank You For Your Service. The film's depiction of post-traumatic stress disorder reveals a raw, painful truth for many whose psychological scars manifest in their physical realities, not as something a bandage can heal or an artificial limb can recreate but rather as hurts clearly seen in their eyes and actions and struggles to cope with truth and reality away from the dangers of war but ever more intimate with the ravages of its ceaseless and ever-tightening grasp. As the characters fight a seemingly unwinnable battle in their own minds and against their own spirits, as they do their best to console one another and admit a need for help, struggle to involve family in the healing process, and encounter endless piles of paperwork, overcrowded waiting rooms, long wait times, and seemingly no hope to find help from those who offer it, the film's title becomes an integral part of the narrative experience. "Thank you for your service" is a nice thing say, usually heartfelt and sincere, but their service wounds them ever deeper even when free from the immediate dangers of the battlefield and as the viewer witnesses their obstacles and deterioration over nearly two hours. Over that time, the words seem to become less a genuine response of gratitude and more an empty platitude, a fleetingly kind yet in some ways painful word and reminder of suffering in a maelstrom of swirling pains and memories with seemingly no end or solution or hope in sight.

In a film such as this, exploring the open wounds within an individual's psyche, actor performances are paramount to giving the movie legitimacy and properly exploring the seriousness of the issues at hand. The film's cast absolutely delivers, each of them, in their own way and within the constraints of their own characters but also more broadly in addressing the larger problems and speaking for all inflicted, presenting with a sincerity and depth that does justice to the men they portray and the many struggling service members in whose honor the film seems to really be made. Miles Teller is superb, capturing not just essential character qualities or even conveying pain and suffering through actions and eyes but seeming to inhabit the very soul, the very essence, of an individual not only struggling and hurting, but dying inside. The juxtaposition of his true pain and the front he puts on in front of his family, a guard he gradually lets down as his wife becomes ever more aware of the complexities and seriousness of his mental and spiritual deterioration, is tangibly complex. Teller's work is not only phenomenal, it's a voice for all of those who are truly suffering in the wake of returning home in a pain few truly understand and in a world that seems to genuinely want to help but often cannot with the immediacy and urgency and thoroughness the veterans require. Teller's co-stars, both his returning brothers-in-arms and their families, deliver equally formidable performances that get to the heart of not only the pains the men suffer, but on the flip side the agony their spouses endure as they desperately try to get through to the men they love and help the process to recovery along, whether in a professional setting or in the home.

Thank You for Your Service Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Thank You for Your Service was digitally photographed, which for a higher end production these days isn't necessarily going to translate into a flat, glossy picture. On the contrary, the film boasts a fairly impressive visual surface, with abundant and well defined textures to be found in complex facial features (pores, freckles), clothes, and the heavy gear worn over in Iraq. Image complexity of terrain and environments deliver equally pleasing results, save for a few shots where smeared edges interrupt the visual flow. Colors are largely healthy and robust, with the earthy Iraq shades giving way to a more stable, pleasingly neutral palette stateside with only a mild sense of appearing washed out. Black levels hold impressively deep with only some intrusive noise standing in the way of some of the more intensively dark shots and perfection. A few blink-and-miss traces of aliasing are evident here and there; one of the most prominent can be seen on a bag at the 43:52 mark. On the whole, though, this is a strong new release from Universal.

Thank You for Your Service Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Thank You for Your Service features a DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 lossless soundtrack. The film is predominantly talk-heavy, frequently exploring painfully intimate exchanges between characters, and dialogue clarity impresses for the duration. Several more intensive effects do break up the track, however. Zipping race cars move about the front and wrap around the back in chapter three, featuring not only seamless stage traversal but a positive depth to match; critical dialogue remains well prioritized and enveloping through the throaty content playing against it. Deep train whistles and a few gunshots later in the film during a key scene offer firm, crisp delivery into the stage. Environmental support details, whether light exterior elements or bustling sounds inside a packed VA waiting room, help draw the listener into a few of the film's key locations.

Thank You for Your Service Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Thank You for Your Service contains two featurettes. DVD and digital versions are included with purchase.

• Staging a War (1080p, 12:20): A discussion of story details, characters and performances, working with the real individuals portrayed in the film, casting veterans as extras and employing them on the film, actor boot camp, and shooting locations.
• The Battle at Home (1080p, 7:37): A look at the book and its transition to film, physical and emotional wounds, the perceptions and realities of mental illness, the struggles of returning home, and more.

Thank You for Your Service Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Thank You for Your Service is heartfelt and heartbreaking look at post-traumatic stress disorder. It's a raw and honest film, a difficult film, and impossible to forget. Top-notch performances not only define the characters, but honor and speak for all those afflicted. Universal's Blu-ray is excellent, boasting top-tier video, solid lossless audio, and a couple of good featurettes. Highly recommended.