execrable waste of time

Rating: 1/10 (23 October 2002)

The entire time I was watching this movie it always felt like I was watching a Hollywood movie maker's idea of what war is like, someone who had done no research or background reading. Always. I never once felt like I had any insight to what it was really like for the people there. Extremely heavy handed.
The characters were all over-acted. Nolte acted like someone's idea of what Patton was like. I've read a fair amount of WW II books and the there may have been generals back at HQ that were like Nolte's character but the officers in the field were not. The characters were either terrified and peeing their pants, nuts, or quiet with dignified bravery.
The fighting tactics were completely idiotic and unbelievable; the kind of twaddle I'd expect from a grade C script writer for TV. The soldiers were always just standing up or crouching so that they were visible to the enemy and walking into gunfire. I guess it's more important for us to see lots of soldiers get shot rather than they might have some brains and act in ways to increase the odds of achieving their objective.
This would have been a reasonable movie for a first time writer/director for the Lifetime cable channel but not much else.