A Bruce Willis Movie?

Rating: 4/10 (18 August 2004)

***possible mild spoilers***
No, it's really not. Bruce Willis plays a significant supporting role, but that's about it. Almost every frame features Colin Farrell, whose character the movie is even named after. Not just deceptive, the advertising just plain lies to you. The DVD case even goes out of it's way to paint this as an action movie... I'd have been sorely disappointed if I hadn't known better.
Hart's War was a real disappointment. The first hour is quite good and really sets the scene. Unfortunately the second half is absurdly implausible and poorly put together. I get the feeling Hoblit really felt the trial (really a pretty trivial part of the story even if a vital one) was the focal point of the movie, when it shouldn't have been. It reminded me of the old "creepy uncle pulling his thumb off" trick. The finger in front of the thumb doesn't hide anything - in this case the plot is incredibly transparent and unnecessarily so.
Had some judicious editing taken place, say trimming the second half by about 20 minutes (and I, despite knowing very little about editing, can even think of the exact bits to get rid off), Hart's War would have been quite a good movie. As it stands it's nothing more than a barely adequate time-waster.
Rating - 2/5 (1/5 if you expected a Bruce Willis Action movie!)