I know what you’re thinking: “oh look, another Iraq war movie”. It seems Hollywood is milking this for all it’s got, making war movies by the dozen. Many have claimed these movies are an insult, as they are usually satiric or highly inaccurate, sometimes portraying the military bases as college frat parties with the occasional bomb.

“The Lucky Ones” is a new movie about...you guessed it, the Iraq war! Directed by Neil Burger (the mastermind behind the 2006 box office hit “The Illusionist”), the title of the movie leaves little to the imagination: you expect to see soldiers returning from Iraq, “lucky” to be alive. And no two ways about it, that’s exactly what you get.

The movie shows Tim Robbins, Rachel McAdams and Michael Peña making their way home after being put on leave. Although far from being a road-trip movie, it does encapsulate a journey to their home, the mental journey being far more exhausting than the physical one. As you might expect (not only from a psychological standpoint but also from other movies that touch on the subject) the three “lucky ones” are clearly alienated and out of place in their American hometowns.

Some satirical, highly cynical scenes are introduced to give the movie a more realistic touch. The three survivors are invited to dinner at a rich right-winger, a dinner which manages not only to alienate them from the civilians with no war experience, but also to estrange others from them. What could you, an Iraq war survivor, say when a civilian says the American efforts have been disastrous and then proceed to talk about his golf swing? It’s clear to the viewer that Iraq soldiers (at least the ones in this movie) feel uncomfortable in the presence of people who did not share their experience.

This clash brings the three soldiers closer than even the war had done. Even their loved ones seem to find them permanently changed: the wife of Tim Robbins’ character leaves him as soon as he sets foot in his house. To further the increasing differences between them and those at home, the soldiers also sport visible marks of their time in Iraq: Colee (Rachel McAdams) has a limp, caused by a leg injury, but regardless, she’s set on taking her boyfriend’s guitar to his family, as a sign of gratitude after he saved her life ; TK (Michael Peña) has an injury that threatens a healthy sexual activity and is worried about his wife’s reaction and Cheever is happy to return home, but is left by his wife and thinks about gambling to pay for his son’s tuition.

But how did they end up in the army in the first place? The movie also gives a background on the characters, just as the genre requires in order to make viewers empathic with the characters. Colee joins the Army after her despotic mother throws her out of the house and TK is the last member of a poor military family who got drafted.

Although the movie does not bring any new stories to the big screens, we can still appreciate the actors’ performances: Tim Robbins plays Cheever brilliantly and it’s obvious he made the best of a pretty typical character, McAdams shines in a bar scene where she is mocked for her limp, and Peña is the character that the other actors can build up on.

Although I’m torn between two recommendations, I suggest you see this movie for the brilliance of Tim Robbins and for Rachel McAdams and Michael Peña’s outstanding representations.