Taking Chance is a tender little movie that most people have probably never heard of, let alone given the inclination to give it a watch. Quietly released by HBO in early 2009, first-time director Ross Katz debuts a gem of a based on actual events movie about a high-ranking marine officer escorting the slain body of a soldier home to his final resting place after the young man was killed in action during Operation: Iraqi Freedom.

Delivering one of the best performances of his storied career, Kevin Bacon (The River Wild, Mystic River) stars as Lt. Colonel Michael Strobl, a Marine veteran of 17 years whose time in combat has come to an end and who now works behind a desk as he finishes the backend of his career. Seemingly immersed in self-driven guilt simply because he is not an active soldier during the most combative period of his lifetime, we can see the sadness in Strobl’s eyes each time he listens to the news or reads of another American fatality. However, one record strikes a particular accord as he searches his work database for recent casualties. The Private First Class (PFC) Chance Phelps report shows that he and Strobl are from the same hometown. Volunteering for an assignment that would typically go to someone of less rank, Strobl travels to Port Mortuary at Delaware’s Dover Air Force Base, where he receives instructions about escorting his marine to his designated funeral home, signifying the end of the assignment. The remainder of the movie follows the journey as Strobl cares for this soldier as his body is transported back to his hometown for burial.

Taking Chance is not your typical film. This is what makes it both so unique and beautiful. Some might argue that nothing happens. I argue that everything happens. This is a poignant movie that everyone should see, especially those not in the military or who do not know all of the intricacies of the care of the deceased body of a fallen soldier. This was a history lesson for me when I saw it for the first time in 2009 (I watched it for the second time in 2020). This should be a movie seen by high school students in one of their social studies classes before they graduate or as a required summer assignment before the start of either their US History course or their US Government course. In either case, I cannot think why I wouldn’t want my son or daughter to see this movie before high school graduation.

The depiction of a deceased soldier is on display for all to see. Katz knows that there will be plenty of soldiers and families of killed soldiers who will watch this movie and pick any part of it apart that doesn’t hold to form. From the initial bags of ice that are packed together to preserve the bodies of their killed comrades at an overseas Air Force base to the delivery of the body to its final destination to whichever part of the country the soldier is from, and everything in between, Taking Chance takes into precision all of the details that we might expect, but at the same time wouldn’t think about, and almost might take for granted.

This is not a movie because it stars Kevin Bacon, and you try to see all his films. This profoundly poignant movie will land a decisive blow on what might be an otherwise ordinary day if you are not prepared for it. Taking Chance has no antagonists. There is no rising action. There is just the slightest bit of tension, and even that is to reinforce just how personal a movie is. Taking Chance is a lesson that could have been filmed as a documentary and evoked similar emotions. It likely would have been just as worthy of a watch, though you wouldn’t have had the same kind of pinpoint control that you do with a feature film. It may have felt more authentic, though Katz would have lacked the pinpoint control of his characters.

What the movie watcher experiences through the lens of Strobl is exactly what Katz wants us to experience. You’ll travel in Strobl’s shoes with him and share the grief and sadness he experiences through this cross-country journey. Katz and Bacon will overwhelm you with so much emotional tenacity that you will weep for a man whose face is never seen, whose life we only learn about through secondhand stories and remembrances from friends and family we meet along the way.

We don’t have to know Chance or his story to understand that this film has a greater purpose. Each service person lost in action is someone’s child, sibling, spouse, friend, or someone well-known through their circles of life. We all want our best story to be told when our time ends. I hope that we all feel a bit of sadness in our hearts when someone dies well before their time on this planet ends. I think that we all wonder why someone has to die in war because I hope we all wish that there didn’t have to be war…at least a war where humans are either suppressed or killed in action.

Taking Chance is a gut check for sure. I don’t think you can leave this movie thinking, “Well, that was okay, I guess.” I think you’ll be moved in a way that forces you to pause like I was. Or you might feel it’s a film that means well, but it drives the over-sentimentalism a little too far. While I understand both views, I hope this film’s honest approach to something that we might otherwise not know about comes across as admirable to you as it did to me.

Plot 8/10
Character Development 7/10
Character Chemistry 6/10
Acting 7 /10
Screenplay 7/10
Directing 10/10
Cinematography 8/10
Sound 9/10
Hook and Reel 8/10
Universal Relevance 10/10
80%

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