A solid war movie without much substance

Rating: 7/10 (19 June 2016)

There is a part of the movie where the heroes come up against overwhelming odds and the leader decides to stay and tells his men to go but the men go, "Nah, we stay with you" as the emotional music plays in the background. Checkbox checked.
Besides this cliché and a few others about how bad war is, there is unfortunately not a whole lot to this movie. "What is this movie about?" someone will ask. "About a tank crew," I would answer. "What does that crew do?" "They kill a bunch of Germans." The sacrifice made by the main characters does not feel like it's for something. Many of the events and much of the dialogue feel forced, like the movie is looking for something of substance to add or make things seem more awesome than they are.
The good part about this film is how well it is made overall. The camera work is solid. You can tell what's going on and there are plenty of epic shots. The music is epic too. It has that classic instruments foundation but it is layered with good atmospheric effects. The action feels weighty, despite the battles being fairly small scale. There is at least one really cool tank fight.
The acting is good. Of course, with Brad Pit at the lead you pretty much guaranteed a solid performance but his support crew area all doing a good job as well. The Mexican character played by Michael Peña is funny but not so funny as to be overbearing. As with the rest of the movie, unfortunately there is nothing special about these guys. The naive noobie gunner at the center of the film is a walking stereotype of that type of character. The others are kind of blank. There is a scene that feels like it serves to give more background to the rest of the tank crew but it does not deliver a whole lot.
Is it a very realistic war film? Well it has a scene or two that treat the enemy with a lot of respect and show the dirt of war, but the film can't help but revert to the super hero Americans theme we have grown sick of.
Maybe in the end we need more movies that aren't about something. Meaningful epic movies have in themselves become a cliché. This film flows logically, looks good and doesn't overstay its welcome. If you are interested in World War II or in tanks then this is a must see.