Reviews Film / The Generals Daughter

The Exact Level of Sleaze I'll Defend, Determined Scientifically

I'm a prude. I admit it. I'm proud of it. I've defended my attitude against jerks trying to hypocritically insist I need to adopt a less uptight view of sexuality my entire life. I hate it whenever I get pornographic elements in my non-pornographic media, and I resent whenever I feel something is trying to pander to the lowest common denominator by stuffing itself with sex. (Being American, I'm a bit more comfortable with action, although gore-porn horror movies get me the same way, look, I'm getting off topic.) The point is... if you want to stuff a lot of sex and sleaze into your movie, you'd better have a damn good reason and a damn good story underneath.

Which brings me to The General's Daughter. A detective drama set within the US military, it's a relic of a better time, before 9/11 cooked everyone's brains and sent the world spinning off on a dark new course. It's a surprisingly modern story about the ancient theme of the difference between wanting to have integrity, and wanting to look like you have integrity, and it's also absolutely stuffed with enough sleazy sex, nudity, and violence to make the grindhouse television genre spawned by CSI look tame.

But at the same time, I don't think the dark, tragic personal betrayals and ruthless power struggles that undergird the plot would work without a lot of that over-the-top sexuality. This is, largely, sexual content being used to buttress the work's story and themes, even if too much of it feels intended to titillate for my liking.

I also appreciate that, after years of rape plots where the rape itself is used as motivation, the story zigs instead of zagging; the rape wasn't what destroyed Elizabeth but the betrayal of her father and her service, and the especially bitter twist that when they bothered to look, the protagonists were able to solve her "unsolvable" crime in a week, when it was a cold case no less, making that response look even worse.

Finally, as a drama whose action scenes feel a bit gratuitous at times, and thus living or dying on the actors' ability to sell their parts, I found all the acting pretty good, if a bit... 90's? I don't mind that so much, but it's perhaps a touch less naturalistic in places than people would expect today, which I know can be a stumbling block for those who prefer more-downbeat performances.

I'm trying really hard not to spoil too much, I guess is my point, and I wouldn't even recommend reading the trope page without seeing the movie because it gives away a big first-act twist. Just be aware what you're getting into.