Doesn't look much like a Peckinpah movie.

Rating: Null/10 (30 April 2008)

Whether you like COI or not, that silly nursery rhyme in the opening credits will stick with you for a while. Pure brainwashing, like a goddamn Britney Spears chorus that won't go away because you've heard it a 1000 times.
COI is an odd war movie, which isn't necessarily bad. For one thing, it's from the point of view of the desperate German army. The attempt to "humanize" the soldier fighting for Hitler only succeeds partly. The reason it doesn't - and never can - fully succeed is that there couldn't have been nearly as much individualism among the German ranks as is presented here. A German corporal, who is an efficient exterminator of enemy soldiers, risking his neck by keeping a Russian boy as prisoner? Gimme a break. Well, "Russian"... This Russian is played by Slavko Stimac, a Serb kid famous for his awful Yugoslavian movies in the 70s and 80s. Dyed blonde, he looks even more ridiculous. Also absurd was his playing of the mouth harmonica when caught by Coburn's troops. What was that all about? Another strange/silly moment was when Senta Berger said "long live Germany", just as Coburn was leaving her for good; that didn't make much sense in light of the way her character was established previously. Additionally, a nurse as good-looking as Berger throws herself at Coburn, and then HE leaves HER, because of his sense of duty! Too Hollywood, too Hollywood for me...
A problematic factor in an American production about Germans are the accents/language. Either you get German actors who will all speak in German (an approach that would guarantee box-office disaster), or you let your international crew speak English the way they normally do. Listening to Coburn and Warner speak English "like Germans" doesn't quite work; it comes of as silly more than anything else.
However, although the movie drags at times, I do like that ending in which Coburn laughs semi-hysterically; it was almost the only way to intelligently finish the story.