Rather than watching old WWII features on TV today (like Battle of Britain and 633 Squadron) and forced to sit through AARP and life insurance commercials, I decided to have my own war movie marathon. Against my better judgement, I watched four straight-to-DVD movies that were recently released. What the heck, it's Memorial Day! Below are my impressions on each:
Pathfinders: In the Company of Strangers – This ultra-low-budget feature tells the 'unknown' story of the Pathfinders tasked to mark drop zones by deploying Eureka transmitters and light teams before D-Day. The movie is plagued by bad acting, amateur camera-work and was shot mostly in the dark at below waist-high level in the tall grass; for most of the movie you can't see more than a few yards in any direction. I think this may well beat 'Battle Force' as the worst war move made (sorry, James).
Grade: F
Fortress – Another movie shot on a shoe-string budget, this movie about a B-17 crew stationed in Sicily is ill-conceived and badly executed, suffering from a boring script, bad acting and bad special effects. The movie blends live action with poor CGI of the quality you would see on a 10-year old PC flight simulator. Some 'barracks' scenes meant to be funny weren't.
Grade: D
Saints and Soldiers: Airborne Creed – This sequel to the surprising 2003 WWII indie hit 'Saints and Soldiers' boasts a relatively bigger budget than its predecessor and is actually not bad, unless the WWII buff in you starts to nitpick on the details, like how the only German tank the three 517th Parachute Combat Team members in the movie ran into was a PZIII numbered 'II04.' Still, not a bad movie, considering.
Grade: C
Company of Heroes – Boasting 'big names' like Tom Sizemore, Vinny Jones and Neal McDonough, this movie has the highest production value compared to the three above and even includes an attack by the 12th SS Panzer Division with captured T34's (really?). It soon went downhill, however, as it became a 'Dirty Dozen' story about rescuing a German scientist working on the atomic bomb for Hitler. Cookie-cutter, archetype characters (Allies and German alike), a bad screenplay and
a general lack of tension and suspense ruined what could have been a promising movie based on THQ's bestselling video game.
Grade: C-Cheers!
David (author of moviesaccordingtodave.blogspot.com)
