Derivative War Film That Does Not Really Convince

Rating: 5/10 (6 November 2014)

A good effort at trying to portray war in its gory, dirty messiness - both in literal and ethical terms. But ultimately it fails on two counts. Firstly, it tries to be an all-embracing depiction of every war there ever was, but it is set in WW2, and it does not fully convince of its historical setting, eg incidents, characterisation, general philosophical observations in the script, and the incompetence of the Wehrmacht reveal a desire for universality rather historical accuracy. So we get soldiers depicted as if they are fighting in Vietnam or Iraq (you know modern liberal hand ringing about atrocities committed by US personnel), and new tropes of war based on YouTube videos from Iraq- officers do not really fight wars (if they do, they look 15 and get killed almost immediately. So why do snipers have orders to take out officers first and make soldiers leaderless? And every soldier must literally depict that they are suffering from PTSD so we get every actor, bar Brad Pitt, twitching his head slightly! The second failure is that the film revels in and perpetuates all the old clichés of the genre. Yes, the new kid who has to be shown how to fight total war; the war weary vets who have almost descended to an animal state; US GIs fighting almost impossible odds on their own; a couple of scenes with female civilians as 'normal life' is partially reconnected to; characters who have appeared in 95% of previous war films and are so recogniseable; and bits of other better films dragged in because the director/writer does not know how to be original. The latter sees Pitt and La Boeuf reconnect by spouting biblical quotations, just like Peckinpah's 'Ride The High Country' as Randolph Scott and Joel MacRae rediscover their bonds of trust and friendship for the final shoot out. While the decision to stay and fight a probably terminal stand is straight out of 'The Magnificent Seven.' It does portray a very bloody business, and the tank battle with the Tiger is thrilling, but the final battle is sheer Errol Flynn/Clint Eastwood with Veteran Wehrmacht/SS going down in their hundreds before the superstar's automatic weapons! And please why did the film have to pinch the ending of 'All Quiet On The Western Front?' Shame on you! The film should have just got on with telling how it was, not how Hollywood thinks it now is.