Brad shoulda been in a wheelbarrow

Rating: 4/10 (8 March 2015)

This is a poor 1 dimensional clichéd film that contains good action & good effects. Not since John Wayne was pushed about in a wheelbarrow after dropping into France screaming "cut them down, cut them down" has there been a more incredible lead character in what purports to be a serious war movie. The Germans are portrayed as dopey cannon fodder who just walk onto machine gun fire, whilst in reality they were a highly professional fighting force who despite overwhelming odds on several fronts managed to put up organised resistance & avoid defeat until the bitter end. Where this film missed a trick was not to examine the subtext to that situation and the difficulties for the allies in dealing with that. War is never as cut and dried as this. There is no doubt the Nazi regime was evil & their exercise of warfare was ruthless and chillingly efficient, however this poorly constructed tale of a bunch of clichéd multicultural misfits led by a bilingual philosophising sociopath is too incredible to be classed as a serious war movie like "Enemy at the Gate" or even the very recent '71, movies that are deeper & far more credible than this one.