Rescue Dawn

What we miss is the real Herzogian touch that can translate tales of derringdo into something more than mere adventure and stir the soul as well as the heart and mind.

An effective, unassuming and old-fashioned action adventure which is - perhaps a little faute de mieux - probably the best film of the week.

The performances are worryingly Method. Bale eats bowls of maggots. I had to look away when he tucked into a live snake.

A quirky first half of torture, starvation and, um, stinky farts gives way to crazed jungle fever as Dengler leads a great escape into the heart of darkness.

Somehow his story, reenacted in the feature film, fails to catch fire in the way it does in the documentary. It looks oddly conventional, even flat.

While Zahn and Davies offer amazing performances, Bale's starring turn often falls flat. Herzog doesn't give him much to work with: The writer-director is reluctant to allow his hero any flaws, even fear and despair, on his harrowing journey.

Unlike a traditional Hollywood movie, Rescue Dawn follows the pacing and irony of real life. It is far from predictable and far from formulaic.

The jungle has been very good to Werner Herzog.