as Major Schott Del Pentecost as Minneapolis Cargo Handler Dominic Colon as Minneapolis Cargo Handler George Rabidou as Marine First Sergeant delivering U.S. Flag to parent during funeral. Christina Rouner as Tall Flight Attendant Victor Slezak as Sgt Mulcahy Felix Solis as Philly Cargo Worker Sarah Thompson as Annie Paige Turco as Stacey Strobl Sharon Washington as Mortuary Technician Julie White as Colonel Karen Bell Emily Wickersham as Petty Officer Kelley Phelps William Wise as Larry Hertzog Tom Wopat as John Phelps Richard Reed as Rifle detail Staff Non Commissioned Officer Critical reception Taking Chance received generally favorable reviews. It holds a 76 out of 100 rating on Metacritic. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 57% rating based on reviews from 7 critics. One review from The Baltimore Sun, said that it "... is one of the most eloquent and socially conscious films the premium cable channel has ever presented," and USA Today, said "A small, almost perfectly realized gem of a movie, Taking Chance is also precisely the kind of movie that TV should be making." On the other end is Slant Magazine, saying "Instead of well-drawn characters or real human drama, we are presented with a military procedural on burial traditions. The film desperately wants the viewer to shed tears for its fallen hero without giving a single dramatic reason to do so." The film was the most-watched HBO original in five years, with over two million viewers on the opening night, and more than 5.5 million on re-airings. Critics often attribute this success to its apolitical nature, not directly depicting nor offering an opinion of the Iraq War. Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates wrote in his 2014 memoir Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War that the film had an "important impact" on his decision to allow the media access to the transfer of fallen service members at Dover Air Force Base in February 2009. During a White House press conference in 2017, former White House Chief of Staff and Retired Marine Corps General John F. Kelly, who was next to Chance when he was killed and is the father of First Lieutenant Robert Kelly who was killed in action in Afghanistan, recommended that the Washington press corps watch the film in order to understand the solemnity and dignity of the process of returning fallen military service members to their families. Awards and nominations References