"Kelly's Heroes" meets "Fight Club" is the shorthand for this ruthlessly funny, gleefully anarchic black comedy - the most exciting, effective anti-establishment flick since David Fincher's caustic 1999 classic.

"Life for me is about distractions," says Specialist Ray Elwood (Joaquin Phoenix), "I try to keep looking up so I can avoid what's down." Stuck in Stuttgart, on one of the US Army's many German-based bases, he's "fighting the dull fight, nothing to kill except time", as the Cold War drags to its close in 1989.

The company clerk, Elwood makes a mint through the black market, but the gig is up when Robert Lee (Scott Glenn) arrives, a sergeant who "****ing well loved" Vietnam and isn't about to let him run amok, especially when the cocky kid starts dating his daughter (Anna Paquin). Ray just wants one last job, swapping stolen arms for highly sellable smack. It could set him up for life... if he survives.

From the opening shot - troops marching on a mural of the American flag - writer-director Gregor Jordan signals his incendiary intentions. This is not a movie for Daily Mail readers or George W Bush. The soldiers here aren't heroes, they're terminally bored young men - stupid, violent or corrupt; dealing drugs or taking them.

The period is captured perfectly, with David Holmes' propulsive score complemented by smart soundtrack choices - New Order, Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy - and TV-glimpses of President Bush Sr and the Berlin Wall.

Phoenix is excellent as a Gen X Sergeant Bilko, ensuring his cheerfully amoral character never loses heart - showcasing tenderness, love, grief and fear as his games get out of control. Glenn matches him as the martinet, while Ed Harris plays brilliantly against type, as a needy, naïve Colonel.

The satirical stabs are sharp ("Where is the Berlin Wall?" asks one smacked out trooper), but politics never hampers the humour. What it lacks in emotion, it makes up for in laughs. Brutal and bloody, "Buffalo Soldiers" borders on brilliant.