OK war movie in the modern era

Rating: 6/10 (19 December 2014)

It's August 1942 and some German soldiers are resting in Porto Cervo, Italy after battling in North Africa. Lieutenant Hans von Witzland is their new by-the-book commander. The men are soon sent to the eastern front. It's a harrowing fight filled with horrors as they get surrounded by the Russians.
It is a little bit hard to differentiate some of the men. Most have similar haircuts and some look very similar. It's also hard to differentiate by their voices since I don't understand German. I certainly don't recognize any of the actors. Once they get into the battle gears, it's nearly impossible.
The battle sets are big. The rubble is impressive. However there is something old fashion about some of this. It doesn't have the feel of reality. There are too many wildly overacting "shocking" cliché moments. Everybody is yelling. The action is also not the best choreographed. It is still impressive that they actually stage them. Overall there are some good gritty bloody stuff going on but it gets undercut by a lot of clichés.