Sunday Trade: Special Forces

Special Forces: Hot to Death by Kyle Baker

War. Hunh. Whats it good for?

Baker is an unapologetic leftist liberal pinko type. So its no surprise that his book on the Iraq War is more than a little critical. He takes aim at fraudulent recruitment policies, under-equipped and under-armored soldiers, U.S. employed mercenaries and so on. His lead's are a teen-age high school drop-out and felon and the autistic Zone...

Baker's story reads like an action movie in parts, which works to highlight the criticisms he's making. And his insurgent bad guys are over-the-top stereotypes that could come from the most conservative hawk's imagination. They have secret piles of WMD, engage in beheadings and suicide car bombs and their leader's main motivation is that he hates freedom. Its surprising at times how bitingly and darkly funny the whole thing ends up being. Well less surprising if you've seen some of Baker's regular super-hero work...

One thing missing from the collected version are the news articles and reports Baker used to base various parts of the book on. That factual base I think truly helped make the satire work better. I'm also curious as to it being labeled Book 1. Especially given the explosive ending...

Citizen X

The man known as Citizen X was a Russian serial killer in the 80s. He was the murderer of over 50 young men and women, often teen-agers or younger, that he hunted from the train stations. The movie follows the forensic investigator who is first assigned the case (Stephen Rhea) and his superior officer (Donald Sutherland). The two are hampered for much of the investigation by the Russian bureaucracy. Max Van Sydow plays the psychiatrist who wrote the profile on the killer, a move that had more than a little potential political and professional danger for him. Not a fast-paced thriller, but more of a study of the mental effects of pursuing the killer over a decade...