Entertaining and not that violent

Rating: 7/10 (23 October 2014)

Put aside preconceptions about this movie and you will be surprised. Firstly it's not that violent by today's standards. No way it's in the 'Saving Private Ryan' category. What was cringe inducing was the romantic interlude in the German town with the two German women that was drawn out and clichéd. The ending went a bit over the top in a fantasy hero "Lone Survivor' way but it isn't 'Inglorious' crazy just a bit unrealistically brave. The atrocities shown weren't that gory. Just Brad Pitt's character shooting a POW and some Nazis stringing up Germans who won't fight. Don't expect a realistic historically based true story type war movie and you won't be disappointed.
The good points are: gripping tank photography both during the battles and inside the claustrophobic tank. The cast is mostly likable with Michael Pena and a mature looking Shia. Logan Lerman is well cast as the fresh faced idealistic typist plunged into the horrors of the war. In fact the movie is mainly from his POV and he is a sympathetic character. Brad looks older and I couldn't understand too much of his dialog. In fact a big weakness is the dialog which was too thickly accented and almost unintelligible except for the expletives.
Overall this was entertaining (if not realistic) and not excessively violent well photographed war movie with a likable cast.