''Sand Castle'' is a 2017 American
war
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...
film directed by
Fernando Coimbra and written by Chris Roessner. The film stars
Nicholas Hoult
Nicholas Caradoc Hoult (born 7 December 1989) is an English actor. His List of roles and awards of Nicholas Hoult, body of work includes supporting work in big-budget mainstream productions and starring roles in Independent film, independent p ...
,
Henry Cavill
Henry William Dalgliesh Cavill ( ; born 5 May 1983) is a British actor. He is known for his portrayal of Charles Brandon in Showtime's ''The Tudors'' (2007–2010), DC Comics character Superman in the DC Extended Universe (2013–2022), Gera ...
,
Logan Marshall-Green
Logan Marshall-Green (born November 1, 1976) is an American actor and director. He is known for his roles in the television series ''24 (TV series), 24'', ''The O.C.'', ''Traveler (2007 TV series), Traveler'', ''Dark Blue (TV series), Dark Blue' ...
,
Tommy Flanagan
Thomas Lee Flanagan (March 16, 1930 – November 16, 2001) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He grew up in Detroit, initially influenced by such pianists as Art Tatum, Teddy Wilson, and Nat King Cole, and then by bebop musicians. ...
,
Glen Powell
Glen Thomas Powell Jr. (born October 21, 1988) is an American actor. He began his career with guest roles on television and small roles in films such as ''The Dark Knight Rises'' (2012) and ''The Expendables 3'' (2014) before making his breakthr ...
,
Beau Knapp
Beau Christian Knapp (born April 17, 1989) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in '' The Signal'' (2014), '' Run All Night'' (2015), and '' Southpaw'' (2015). Knapp portrayed a lead villain in '' Death Wish'' (2018), the sixth install ...
, and
Neil Brown Jr.
Cornelius C. Brown Jr. (born June 19, 1980), better known as Neil Brown Jr., is an American actor. His most recognizable role may be in the television series '' The Walking Dead'' as Guillermo, leader of the Vatos and as Felix on the short-lived ...
The film centers on Matt Ocre, a young soldier in the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
, who is tasked with restoring water to a village in Iraq. It is inspired by Roessner's experience as a soldier in the
Iraq War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish)
, partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...
. It was released on April 21, 2017 on
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
.
Plot
At the beginning of the 2003
Iraq War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish)
, partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...
, Private Matt Ocre, a young
civil affairs soldier with the
Army Reserve
A military reserve force is a military organization whose members have military and civilian occupations. They are not normally kept under arms, and their main role is to be available when their military requires additional manpower. Reserve ...
slams his hand in the door of a Humvee in an attempt to get sent home. Narration reveals that he enlisted in July 2001, in order to get money for college. Some time later, he is seen with a cast on his arm, his attempt having been unsuccessful. His cast gets cut off just in time to be
sent to Baghdad. During the battle, Ocre spots a sniper and Sergeant Dylan Chutsky calls in a helicopter strike that destroys the building the sniper is in.
The film then skips forward to some time after the battle, when Ocre's squad is tasked with repairing a broken water system in the dangerous village of
Baqubah
Baqubah ( ar, بَعْقُوبَة; BGN: Ba‘qūbah; also spelled Baquba and Baqouba) is the capital of Iraq's Diyala Governorate. The city is located some to the northeast of Baghdad, on the Diyala River. In 2003 it had an estimated populati ...
. They arrive in the village and meet up with a
Special Forces
Special forces and special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...
unit led by Captain Syverson. Syverson introduces them to their interpreter and explains that they are to travel to the pump station and fill a tanker with water to bring back to the village every day. At the station, the
Army engineers working on the pump explain that it will take many weeks to finish repairs, but that the repairs would go much faster if Staff Sergeant Harper could recruit some of the villagers to help. Back at the village, they inform the locals that they will pay anyone who shows up to work the next morning. However, when the morning comes, there is no one there by the time they are ready to leave. With no labor forthcoming from the village, they are forced to help the engineers themselves. During one return trip, a vehicle is spotted coming up behind them at high speed. They stop the vehicle and interrogate the driver, but learn he is taking his young daughter to another village for medicine. During another trip, they are attacked by several insurgents with small arms, who shoot holes in the tank. The next day, while passing out water, gunfire breaks out. They engage in a pitched firefight with several enemy shooting from the rooftops, during which Chutsky is killed.
After finally getting help from Kadeer, the administrator of the local school, who desperately needs water to keep the school open, they begin making better progress on the station. One morning, none of the Iraqis show up to work and the squad returns to the village, where they find the administrator's body burned and tied to a stake in the schoolyard. The administrator's brother Arif angrily tells Syverson where the insurgents have been meeting. A plan is quickly formed to attack them that night. The attacks succeeds, killing several enemy and capturing more, but Corporal Enzo and Sergeant Burton are both injured and need to be evacuated by helicopter. Work on the pump station finally resumes, with Arif bringing in a crew of local workers. However, soon after, the pump station is hit by an
improvised explosive device
An improvised explosive device (IED) is a bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action. It may be constructed of conventional military explosives, such as an artillery shell, attached to a detonating mechan ...
brought by one of the workers in a suicide bombing, destroying all of the work done by the group and killing several Americans and Iraqis.
Ocre and Harper return to their base in Baghdad. Harper is given three weeks leave, and Ocre is told he is going home. Ocre protests, but is overruled. Later that day, he is escorted to the airfield by Harper and Sergeant Major MacGregor. After asking MacGregor if it is a beautiful day for the infantry and receiving an enthusiastic affirmation, he boards the plane.
Cast
*
Nicholas Hoult
Nicholas Caradoc Hoult (born 7 December 1989) is an English actor. His List of roles and awards of Nicholas Hoult, body of work includes supporting work in big-budget mainstream productions and starring roles in Independent film, independent p ...
as Private Matt Ocre, a young civil affairs soldier
*
Logan Marshall-Green
Logan Marshall-Green (born November 1, 1976) is an American actor and director. He is known for his roles in the television series ''24 (TV series), 24'', ''The O.C.'', ''Traveler (2007 TV series), Traveler'', ''Dark Blue (TV series), Dark Blue' ...
as Staff Sergeant Harper, the leader of a platoon who is tasked to save a village
*
Henry Cavill
Henry William Dalgliesh Cavill ( ; born 5 May 1983) is a British actor. He is known for his portrayal of Charles Brandon in Showtime's ''The Tudors'' (2007–2010), DC Comics character Superman in the DC Extended Universe (2013–2022), Gera ...
as Captain Syverson,
the Special Forces officer running the operation in the dangerous village
Baqubah
Baqubah ( ar, بَعْقُوبَة; BGN: Ba‘qūbah; also spelled Baquba and Baqouba) is the capital of Iraq's Diyala Governorate. The city is located some to the northeast of Baghdad, on the Diyala River. In 2003 it had an estimated populati ...
*
Tommy Flanagan
Thomas Lee Flanagan (March 16, 1930 – November 16, 2001) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He grew up in Detroit, initially influenced by such pianists as Art Tatum, Teddy Wilson, and Nat King Cole, and then by bebop musicians. ...
as Sergeant Major McGregor
*
Glen Powell
Glen Thomas Powell Jr. (born October 21, 1988) is an American actor. He began his career with guest roles on television and small roles in films such as ''The Dark Knight Rises'' (2012) and ''The Expendables 3'' (2014) before making his breakthr ...
as Sergeant Dylan Chutsky,
a tough-minded soldier
*
Beau Knapp
Beau Christian Knapp (born April 17, 1989) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in '' The Signal'' (2014), '' Run All Night'' (2015), and '' Southpaw'' (2015). Knapp portrayed a lead villain in '' Death Wish'' (2018), the sixth install ...
as Sergeant Burton
*
Neil Brown Jr.
Cornelius C. Brown Jr. (born June 19, 1980), better known as Neil Brown Jr., is an American actor. His most recognizable role may be in the television series '' The Walking Dead'' as Guillermo, leader of the Vatos and as Felix on the short-lived ...
as Corporal Enzo
*
Sam Spruell
Sam Spruell (born 1 January 1977) is a British actor. He is best known for playing villainous roles in film and television including Oleg Malankov in ''Taken 3'', Finn in ''Snow White and the Huntsman'' and Swarm in '' Doctor Who: Flux''. He als ...
as First Lieutenant Anthony
*
Navid Negahban
Navid Negahban ( fa, نوید نگهبان; born June 2, 1968) is an Iranian-American actor. He has appeared on '' 24'', ''Homeland'', ''Mistresses'' and as Amahl Farouk / Shadow King in the second and third seasons of FX's ''Legion''. He has als ...
as Kadeer, the administrator of the local school
*
Nabil Elouahabi
Nabil Elouahabi (born 6 February 1975), often credited as Nabil Elouhabi, is a British- Moroccan actor, known for his role as Tariq Larousi in ''EastEnders'' from 2003 to 2005, as Rashid "Gary" Mahmoon in " Strangers on the Shore" (the 2002 Chri ...
as Arif, Kadeer's brother and a mechanical engineer
Production
Chris Roessner's script ''Sand Castle'', based on his own experience as a machine gunner in Iraq's
Sunni Triangle
The Sunni Triangle is a densely populated region of Iraq to the north and west of Baghdad inhabited mostly by Sunni Muslim Arabs. The roughly triangular area's points are usually said to lie near Baghdad (the southeast point), Ramadi (the southwest ...
, appeared among the 2012 unproduced
Black List
Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist (or black list) of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list. If someone is on a blacklist, t ...
screenplays.
On March 13, 2014 it was announced that
Nicholas Hoult
Nicholas Caradoc Hoult (born 7 December 1989) is an English actor. His List of roles and awards of Nicholas Hoult, body of work includes supporting work in big-budget mainstream productions and starring roles in Independent film, independent p ...
would lead the cast of the Iraq war drama to play the role of Matt Ocre, a young machine gunner.
The film would be produced by
Mark Gordon
Mark Gordon (born March 14, 1957) is an American politician who has served as the 33rd governor of Wyoming since January 7, 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as state treasurer; then-governor Matt Mead appointed him ...
through The Mark Gordon Company, who had bought the script.
Commercial director Seb Edwards was hired to direct the film centered on Sergeant Harper, the leader of a platoon, and one of his soldiers, Ocre.
On May 9, 2014
uMedia
Umedia (formerly stylized uMedia) is an international film group based in Brussels, with offices in London, Paris, Los Angeles, and Vancouver.
History
Nadia Khamlichi, Adrian Politowski and Jeremy Burdek created the Motion Investment Group in 20 ...
came on board to finance the film and handle the international sales. Additionally.
Toby Kebbell
Tobias Alistair Patrick Kebbell''Births, Marriages & Deaths: Toby is married to Arielle Wyatt. They got married in 2020 and they have one child together. Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005.''; at ancestry.com (born 9 July 1982) is an English ...
was cast in the film to play Sergeant Harper.
On October 8, 2015
Luke Evans
Luke George Evans (born 15 April 1979) is a Welsh actor and singer. He began his career on the stage, performing in many of London's West End productions such as ''Rent'', ''Miss Saigon'', and '' Piaf'' before making his film breakthrough in ...
and
Henry Cavill
Henry William Dalgliesh Cavill ( ; born 5 May 1983) is a British actor. He is known for his portrayal of Charles Brandon in Showtime's ''The Tudors'' (2007–2010), DC Comics character Superman in the DC Extended Universe (2013–2022), Gera ...
joined the film with Evans playing Sergeant Harper and Cavill playing Captain Syverson from Special Forces who runs the operation in the dangerous village of
Baqubah
Baqubah ( ar, بَعْقُوبَة; BGN: Ba‘qūbah; also spelled Baquba and Baqouba) is the capital of Iraq's Diyala Governorate. The city is located some to the northeast of Baghdad, on the Diyala River. In 2003 it had an estimated populati ...
.
Fernando Coimbra, director of ''
A Wolf at the Door'', was now set to direct the film which Treehouse Pictures would fully finance and produce, while other producers would be Roessner, Gordon, Justin Nappi, and 42's Ben Pugh.
Voltage Pictures
Voltage Pictures is an American film production and distribution company founded by Nicolas Chartier in 2005. It has assembled over 180 motion pictures, earning the company a total of two Golden Globe Awards and nine Academy Awards.
Recent fi ...
took over handling the international sales.
On October 9, 2015
Beau Knapp
Beau Christian Knapp (born April 17, 1989) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in '' The Signal'' (2014), '' Run All Night'' (2015), and '' Southpaw'' (2015). Knapp portrayed a lead villain in '' Death Wish'' (2018), the sixth install ...
joined the film to play a sergeant who has to repair a broken water system in village.
On October 14, 2015
Glen Powell
Glen Thomas Powell Jr. (born October 21, 1988) is an American actor. He began his career with guest roles on television and small roles in films such as ''The Dark Knight Rises'' (2012) and ''The Expendables 3'' (2014) before making his breakthr ...
was cast in the film to play Sergeant Falvy, a tough-minded soldier.
On October 26, 2015
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
confirmed that
Logan Marshall-Green
Logan Marshall-Green (born November 1, 1976) is an American actor and director. He is known for his roles in the television series ''24 (TV series), 24'', ''The O.C.'', ''Traveler (2007 TV series), Traveler'', ''Dark Blue (TV series), Dark Blue' ...
had replaced Evans for his role of Sergeant Harper, the leader of a platoon.
On October 29, 2015
Neil Brown Jr.
Cornelius C. Brown Jr. (born June 19, 1980), better known as Neil Brown Jr., is an American actor. His most recognizable role may be in the television series '' The Walking Dead'' as Guillermo, leader of the Vatos and as Felix on the short-lived ...
joined the film to play the role of Enzo.
Tommy Flanagan
Thomas Lee Flanagan (March 16, 1930 – November 16, 2001) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He grew up in Detroit, initially influenced by such pianists as Art Tatum, Teddy Wilson, and Nat King Cole, and then by bebop musicians. ...
was cast in the film for a lead role of Sgt. McGregor.
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...
on the film began on November 2, 2015.
Release
In May 2016,
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
acquired the distribution rights to the film. The film was released on April 21, 2017.
Critical reception
On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, ''Sand Castle'' has an approval rating of 47% based on 15 reviews, with an average rating of 5.2/10. On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film has a score 45 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
References
External links
Castle''on
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
*
* {{rotten-tomatoes, sand_castle_2017
2017 films
2017 action drama films
2017 war drama films
American action drama films
American war drama films
American action war films
Iraq War films
Films set in 2003
Films set in Iraq
Action films based on actual events
Drama films based on actual events
War films based on actual events
English-language Netflix original films
Films about the United States Army
2010s English-language films
2010s American films