Be prepared. 'The Dry Land' will not blow your socks off

Just the other day, I got the chance to watch “The Dry Land,” which was released in theatres in July. To be honest, this movie was OK, but not great.

Written and directed by Ryan Piers Williams, this movie is about an Iraq war veteran in his early thirties who returns to his small town Texas home after a rough tour of duty overseas. Despite a close circle of family and friends, this veteran, James, has a hard time adapting to life back in the states.

This movie was not without some merit, but its biggest fault is that it was highly predictable. On the upside, I thought that it did a good job of touching on a number of problems that some returning veterans have to deal with. It did a fair job of demonstrating the disconnect between people who have spent time overseas and those who have not.

Some of you may be familiar with a few of the actors in this movie. Ryan O’Nan, a relative unknown, played the lead role of James, but other more well known actors in the film included America Ferrera, Jason Ritter, Ethan Suplee and Wilmer Valderrama.

My favorite actor in the movie was Valderrama, who plays Raymond Gonzales. (Many of you will remember Valderrama as “Fez” from “That 70s Show.”) Gonzales was a soldier in James’ unit, and the two survived an RPG attack in Iraq. Like James, Gonzales is having his own problems adjusting to life back at home, but he seems to be dealing with it in his own good-natured way. The two set off on a road trip to see a severly wounded friend, and, to me, this is the best part of the movie.

Was this movie worth watching? Yes. Is it going to blow your socks off? No. The movie had a very low budget feel to it, and you kind of get the impression that it was intentionally shot that way. I guess the idea was to make it all appear more like real life, but in the end, it fell short of the mark. They went for gritty reality, but it was a lame attempt.

I think this movie would have been better if it had it included some flashback scenes from the characters’ time in Iraq. Instead, you’re left imagining what happened to them, and some action scenes from Iraq would have spiced this movie up a lot. In fact, the low budget, bare bones style of filming might have been more well-suited to these types of scenes.

Of course, it could be just me and this movie may go on to win all kinds of awards. If so, I’ll admit that I was way off on this one, but I’ll be shocked if it does anything at the Academy Awards.

If you’re interested in reading more about “The Dry Land,” visit its official Web site at www.thedrylandmovie.com.