Oh, you liked the PTSD in You Were Never Really Here? Well, have some more!A bunch of US soldiers return from Iraq and start to crack up under the strain of their mental issues. Some fare better than others, and it's all a bit grim. The bleak depiction of America's Veteran Affairs system is utterly galling. You'd think a country that basically lives on war would provide excellent standards of care for its returned servicemen, but apparently no-one gives an arse.Languages spoken: American.I rate Thank You for Your Service at 24.97 on the Haglee Scale, which works out as a gritty 7.5/10 on IMDB.

This movie can be looked at in two ways. If you don't believe in PTSD or that soldiers come back with real emotional scars from their service, this will largely come across as whining and griping and might be viewed as political propaganda for one side or the other. The other way to look at it is as a depressing statement about the level of care veterans receive today and how ill-equipped they are to deal with the problems they bring back home. I fall in the second camp. This movie is definitely somber, there is very little levity but that is the goal of Thank You For Your Service. They go into how damaged your psyche can get and that even when you're back, that doesn't mean your problems stop, they only shift in a different direction. The movie even presents the statistic that 22 veterans commit suicide a day. This is sobering and not pleasant to think about. But that doesn't mean the movie isn't entertaining or worth watching.So, this movie is about American soldiers dealing with PTSD, but it also brings up some issues that you might not think about immediately. After they're discharged, how easy it for them to find jobs? If they suffer a physical or mental injury, how quickly do they get access to care? Is it sufficient to their respective injury? Are there enough veteran affairs offices to deal with all these veterans? What preventative measures are there to discourage things like suicide or self-harm? How do you deal with a condition like survivor's guilt? These are all things that are addressed in the movie and I like the fact that they presented them even though we might not like the answers to those questions. This is a good type of movie to give young and up-and-coming actors/actresses a chance to shine. Miles Teller needed to rebound off the disastrous last attempt at the Fantastic Four and this was a nice comeback performance. He has a lot of humility in this, this isn't a flashy role, but it requires a lot of emotion and he delivers. Haley Bennett is also solid in a thankless role as Saskia. She doesn't get a lot of screen time, but she always does good work regardless. I hadn't seen Beulah Koale in anything else but he was excellent in this. This role is very raw and full of pain, he gets this across and then some. He also works well with Teller and you buy their friendship. I also liked Joe Cole who I recognized from Peaky Blinders. He's less of a one-note character here and he does well with what he was given. Amy Schumer was weird casting but she's fine. Omar J. Dorsey is good in his small role too.Thank You For Your Service is not a perfect movie however. The movie does drag at points, the trailer makes it look like there's going to be lots of flashbacks to action packed moments in their service and there isn't much. The only other thing is that this is a very small and contained movie. It doesn't reach for anything beyond its grasp and seems fine with just being a quieter story. Some might not be pleased about its unwillingness to point a finger at one group or another, but I thought that was a good quality.I urge people to give this movie a chance no matter what you think about current political climate surrounding the war in the Middle East. The movie doesn't play favourites and it doesn't require you to be on one side of the aisle or the other. Its about the soldiers and what they have to deal with when they get on the airplane to come back. TYFYS develops some complex characters that help shine a light on this important issue. The performances are good across the board, the unflinching spotlight on the issue is deserved and they get you to care about whether these characters can carry this burden and still try to lead normal lives. Despite how the movies delves into a dark subject, I still thought it accomplished what it wanted to, and I'd recommend it to anyone who can appreciate some good acting and some relevant commentary on this issue.

This is a good movie on the fate of veterans of current wars. Good cinematography, but let's remember the Nazis had good cinematography in some of their sinister progaganda films.This is one more film with pseudo patriotic messages and hypocritical wailing over the fate of the "people who go to war". It's not the "people". Career officers are not affected by PTSD. Those affected are lower class enlisted men and women who, with or without patriotism, find going to war the best available option. Ill prepared (many with pre existing mental problems), ill trained and exposed to the most vulnerable situations, they find that "option" sometimes is just one more step in a downward spiral.The answer is dealing in a rational and humane manner with all aspects: assessing the real cost of engaging in war, careful selection of recruits for different kind of duties and adequate aid to veterans. These are the real issues that these films carefully sidestep.

Seeing Amy Schumer starring I had to restrict myself from immediately giving it a perfect score of one. Thankfully, I gave it a try. Thank You for Your Service seeks to put on screen difficulties veterans face upon return from war zone and in my opinion that was done pretty solid.You don't get to see military combat too much - only several minutes are given to war footage. Instead, entire focus has been placed on common, everyday struggle young veterans face. I'm not from USA, but TYFYS certainly criticizes the way American society treats veterans. The thing I feared the most before seeing it was that it's going to be too pathetic in a way only Americans can make it. Luckily (or strangely), it didn't feel that way at all. This movie is ultimately the story about forgiveness: here you can see how hard can it be to forgive, how devastating effect not being able to forgive can have and how life changing forgiveness can be. If you're in a mood for a war-drama with almost entire emphasis on drama, TYFYS may stay with you for a while.P.S. Bruce Springsteen has made a track called "Military Cadence" they used as a credit song. Be sure to check it out.