Weakly written war actioner.

Rating: Null/10 (23 November 2002)

4 out of 10
Cross of Iron bears the marks of director Sam Peckinpah: the traditional death-in-slow-motion, the occasional graphic violence, but it's all for naught when it amounts to little more than an action spectacular. True, the battle scenes are exciting and superbly choreographed for such a low-budget production, but I like a little more substance with my action. All the performances, even the late James Coburn, are weak. Not a single character registered any emotion out of me, except maybe Maximillian Schell, playing a cowardly, glory-seeking officer who you just love to despise. There's very little plot, nothing more than a WWII German platoon trying to get out of Russian territory, and the ending is a pretentious letdown.