An Interesting Spin on a War Movie

Rating: 10/10 (16 February 2002)

When I first saw the trailer to Hart's War I was expecting two things: It was gonna be a shoot-em-up kill the Nazis war movie and that Bruce Willis was going to play the role of Hart. And I have to say that I was quite happy that both my assumptions were wrong. First of all... I am very impressed that the people who casted this move decided on Colin Ferrell for the lead role as Hart. When I saw the movie Tigerland and had no idea who he was... but people should take notice of this guy because he is going to be the next big lead actor. He did an excellent job in this movie and his role was very believable. Bruce Willis, although not the lead in this movie, also did an excellent job. He played the role who it was supposed to be played and I think he was the perfect pick for it. All in all the acting was great in this movie. Now when I first heard that this movie wasn't going to be a typical war movie, I was a little disappointed. But with the recent release of the amazing Black Hawk Down, and not to mention the fact that both Nicholas Cage and Mel Gibson are coming out with war movies, it is nice to see that someone has tried to put a different spin on things. Now I don't know for sure if this POW camp was run how a real POW camp was... but with the mention of the Geneva Conference and the reactions of the Germans at the end... it was believable to me. So overall I don't think this movie is the caliber of a Saving Private Ryan WWII movie, but I think they did an excellent job in putting a new spin on things and I would definitely recommend this to anybody who likes WWII movies and also likes dramas. If all you are looking for is an action movie, or if you hate dramas, this movie is definitely not for you. 8.5/10