A Strong WWII Film

Rating: 6/10 (17 January 2009)

If you are an Ed Zwick fan like me then you will like this. I don't think this film is perfect like I wanted it to be but there is some really good stuff here that makes it a definite recommendation. Since it is an Ed Zwick movie it is very well shot. The acting is mostly strong. I am a Daniel Craig fan and I think he is good but could have been given more to do. Like there is a scene where he kills some Nazis who gave aways his parents, and later he says how he regretted it and is unsatisfied. That was never really followed up to, like there is a seen where the survivors beat a nazi to death while claiming revenge and his character did nothing to stop it yet knowing that they wont be satisfied or feel like they have had justice, so him letting them do that didn't feel quite right with his character. He is good though but I wish they could have followed up on that. Liev Schreiber to me stole the show, he was well developed and his motives were always clear. Jaimie Bell was good but I thought he was under developed because you never really get an insight on if they should take action or retreat like Craig's character thinks. Also Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber's characters families were killed and it seemed like they forgot about it 5 minutes later and just fell in love with other woman right after. It kind of hurt there characters to me. So I think the movie is a little messy and did not follow up on ideas it started. I don't know if it was the editing or the script but I felt like there were a bunch of scenes missing. Its a good solid movie though and I think it is an important story that should be heard about and talked about.