Sand Castle

Name: Sand Castle
Genre: Drama, War
Released: April 21, 2017
Duration: 113 min
Rating: 45
Cast: Beau Knapp, Glen Powell, Henry Cavill, Logan Marshall-Green, Neil Brown Jr.

2017

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 7 Critic Reviews

See All

USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 25 Ratings

See All

6.2

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

6.2	Your Score
6.2	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 25 Ratings

Would you like to write a review?

There is a 75 character minimum for reviews. If your review contains spoilers, please check the Spoiler box. Please do not use ALL CAPS. There is no linking or other HTML allowed. Your review may be edited for content. 0/5000

Check box if your review contains spoilers

Movie Details & Credits

Netflix | Release Date (Streaming): April 21, 2017 | TV-MA

Starring: Beau Knapp, Glen Powell, Henry Cavill, Logan Marshall-Green, Neil Brown Jr., Nicholas Hoult, Sam Spruell

Summary: Set in Iraq in 2003, Sand Castle follows a group of American soldiers in the early days of the second Gulf War. Bearing witness to the heat and the horror is the inexperienced Private Matt Ocre (Nicholas Hoult), who, together with several fellow soldiers, is ordered to the outskirts of Baqubah to repair a water pumping station damaged bySet in Iraq in 2003, Sand Castle follows a group of American soldiers in the early days of the second Gulf War. Bearing witness to the heat and the horror is the inexperienced Private Matt Ocre (Nicholas Hoult), who, together with several fellow soldiers, is ordered to the outskirts of Baqubah to repair a water pumping station damaged by U.S. bombs. But, as Ocre discovers, in an atmosphere where resentment and anger fester, trying to win the hearts and minds of the locals is a task fraught with danger. It’s here, in the streets, squares and schools that he discovers the true cost of war. [Netflix]… Expand

Director: Fernando Coimbra

Genre(s): Drama, War

Rating: TV-MA

Runtime: 113 min

See All Details and Credits

Watch Now

Stream On

Metascore

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

The Film Stage Jared Mobarak

Apr 26, 2017

Roessner hasn’t written an anti-war or pro-war film. Sand Castle merely shows the honesty of war’s infinite complexities. Read full review

Empire John Nugent

Apr 24, 2017

Sand Castle does a respectable job of depicting a wretched conflict that none of its participants wanted, but its reason for being feels a little built on sand. Read full review

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky

Apr 18, 2017

It’s a stale, phony, grunt-level sort of view of American intervention, cast in large part with Brits and shot in the familiar desert backlots of Jordan, which has stood in for the site of one Middle Eastern conflict after another since "Lawrence Of Arabia." Read full review

Movie Nation Roger Moore

Apr 18, 2017

A combat movie that’s as generic as they come. Read full review

Matt Donato

Apr 20, 2017

Sand Castle is an Iraq war story about certain futility, but there's a certain redundancy to political overtones that preach what we've been hearing all along. Read full review

Derek Smith

Apr 17, 2017

Unwittingly perhaps, the film reveals itself as a microcosm of America's foreign policy in the Middle East. Read full review

RogerEbert.com Brian Tallerico

Apr 21, 2017

Fernando Coimbra’s Sand Castle offers too little to the War is Hell genre to be noteworthy. Read full review

SEE ALL 7 REVIEWS

Write a Review

User Reviews

Strahlemann

Jun 27, 2020

It's maybe the best war-movie I've seen yet.
Good Charakters
Much Action
Good sense for military scenes
A interesting grounded story
...
But most important well made military action

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

PauloDundee

Aug 5, 2017

Touching micro-pic about one incident of war and its collateral damage. Very well acted within convincing, authentic locations. When reality strikes, it wakes you up, doesn't it?

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Vadertime

Mar 7, 2022

I enjoyed this movie. Until this movie, I never liked Logan Marshall-Green, but he was very good in this story. Nicholas Hoult of X-men fame is also very good. A good depiction of a no-win situation in Afghanistan.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

sanchopancho

May 18, 2017

Good solid war movie about the futility of it all. It doesn't bring anything new to the table but the film's focus is sharp and the story engaging. I feel the critics' reviews are a bit harsh on this one. I'm glad I watched it.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

3ebfan511

May 15, 2017

This is not a typical shoot-em-up war film. You might see more action in a documentary actually. But I like that it was written by a guy who actually served there so its true to what probably happened. (That in some people's cases it was not all shooting and excitement 24/7 but sometimesThis is not a typical shoot-em-up war film. You might see more action in a documentary actually. But I like that it was written by a guy who actually served there so its true to what probably happened. (That in some people's cases it was not all shooting and excitement 24/7 but sometimes other...more boring tasks like helping Iraqi's rebuild stuff etc.) There IS a fair amount of action though, its just not done with a big enough budget to be anything that great. Its really more about the characters reactions to their predicament and just telling a story of what life was like there for an "average" soldier. Overall it was a "good" but not great war film. (I think the budget was so low that during 1 scene they could not even show a large enough location to show who he was shooting at so you just see a close-up of a guy shooting his gun at something, but you never see at what. It takes you out of the action as you can't see whats going on in the battle like most films would show and you end up a little bored just staring at a guy shooting a gun from the same spot for 2 minutes.) That was really the biggest negative I can give it though. Otherwise it did have some good action at times and the overall story was good and there are a lot of quality supporting actors in the film that help it as well.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

CNJones2448

Apr 8, 2022

Poorly directed film. Been done so many times, enough is enough. This film never really takes off in the sense that makes it worthwhile watching. I have read that it is a true story, and if it was directed better, with more passion and, a longer story that had been weaved together morePoorly directed film. Been done so many times, enough is enough. This film never really takes off in the sense that makes it worthwhile watching. I have read that it is a true story, and if it was directed better, with more passion and, a longer story that had been weaved together more smoothly. It would have been a great film. Several of the actors are much better than they were in this film. They were directed horribly.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

SquaredRen

Apr 22, 2017

Some actors here aren't that good. The main character is bland. The shooting scenes are boring, the plot is hopeless & boring for a war movie. It drags a little bit and that's bad for an already mentioned boring film, with boring shootings, & boring main plot.

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

SEE ALL 9 REVIEWS