A rebel with a noble cause is always appealing. When he's an underdog with a name like "Boz" who's fighting the military establishment in a boot camp, he's downright irresistible. Then throw in Joel Schumacher willing to take risks with a hand-held camera and a cast of rookie actors and you've got a recipe for success. Tigerland is a winner all the way.

You know you're watching a fiercely competitive situation - drill sergeants battling wills with young recruits - but you also know actual war and death will not occur.

This is only a training facility. And yet the tension of an actual war movie is just as palpable in this film, mainly because of Boz, the lead character (played very well by Colin Farrell). He's got gall. You can beat him up but you can't buy his soul.

Tigerland is a real place in Louisiana. It's where freshly-minted soldiers go to have the bejesus scared out of them before they hit the bigtime, Vietnam. The brass want to know, are you a man or a mouse? Tough as nails, or a wimp? Some of them do wilt under pressure but not Boz. You just can't break him.

Yes, there are the usual cliches of soldiers peeling potatoes, the startling wake-up calls in the barracks, orders screamed from a distance of two inches.

All of that is expected but it simply provides a forum for the maddening obstinance of Boz. Individuals like him can't make their own decisions about what is right or wrong with the army, can they? No, not officially. But what is intriguing is not just his muckraking but his latent leadership skills and that is what the authorities want to exploit.

Schumacher does a great job directing this film. The jerkiness of the hand-held camera work gives it a documentary feel but more importantly, makes the action visceral. And he gets a lot out of his recruits - unheard of actors as unknown soldiers.

That gives it an even more real feeling especially when you have no idea what is going to happen. You know all these battles on the training ground must reach a crescendo and of course the real war is just over the horizon.

There are risks taken in making this film. Plus there are fresh, young actors working in an unusual setting and their pre-war jitters make it edgy and exciting. It's a must-see for both war movie nuts and admirers of good exciting drama.