The second half is better than the first half. A film of two halves. The first half of the fiim focuses on the training of raw recruits and features shenanigans we have seen countless times before - think Stripes and Police Academy. The persecution of the fat guy - a scenario we had already witnessed in Stripes and Police Academy ( "I could show a movie on your butt, fatso!"- Lt Harris, Police Academy) is here played out to maximum effect. The fat guy who freezes atop a climbing frame is the central plot here with Matthew Modine's character playing second fiddle to all of the Leslie Barbara stuff. The second half of the movie at least gives us something we were not expecting when a sniper's identity is revealed.

• Ian Beale