Implausible But Enjoyable

Rating: 6/10 (7 February 2015)

I just couldn't buy the basic premise of this movie. I thought it was a passable piece of entertainment - not stellar, but good enough. But the basic premise lost me. The Nazis were masters of propaganda, and this was a truly no win scenario for them. The story has a soccer team from the German Army taking on a team made up of Allied prisoners who in peacetime had (mostly) been well known soccer players. My mind couldn't grasp how the Germans were going to milk any positive propaganda out of this. If they won - so, they beat a bunch of POWs; if they lost - WHOA! They lost to a bunch of POWS! I just couldn't buy it.
But set aside the unbelievable premise and this was an all right movie. The soccer angle aside, what you had was an interesting reflection on the duty of prisoners of war to escape if possible. Hatch (played by Sylvester Stallone) was a repeat escaper, who latched on to the soccer team (first as manager and then, somewhat improbably, as the goalkeeper) because it represented another chance to escape. Colby (Michael Caine) was the Allied team's captain and manager - a former star with West Ham United who now just wants to play soccer rather than escape. What started as a small affair, organized by a German officer (Max von Sydow) ended up as this huge propaganda effort, with the game played in Paris.
Yes it was unbelievabe that Hatch would end up as the goalkeeper. Yes it was unbelievable that Hatch would have been allowed on the team after his attempts at escape. Yes it was unbelievable that he would be put back on the team after escaping again. Yes it was unbelievable in so many ways. But it wasn't unenjoyable. Stallone's performance was pretty good, and there was a funny (to me anyway) nod to his work as Rocky Balboa as he stared down the German who was about to take the last second penalty kick. The last scenes, as the crowd stormed the field and seemed to help the prisoners escape was pretty dramatic. And the movie featured Pele - who showed no great acting talent, but offered up his famous scissors kick a couple of times.
Sure it was implausible - and that's generous. But very watchable, and for the most part enjoyable. (6/10)