Pretty Mediocre Movie

Rating: 3/10 (1 June 2004)

This movie seemed really interesting on the surface, Clint Eastwood in a war film and a pretty prominent actor in Richard Burton with the lead role. I caught the first 15 minutes of it during TCM's Memorial Day special before I had to go and tend to some things, but since the actors, war theme, and the first 15 minutes had piqued my interest, I decided to rent it that evening and watch the rest of it.
I was pretty letdown. It's pretty a dumbed down action vehicle that was designed primarily for the purpose of keeping two big name actors in the spotlight. About 75% of Burton's lines consist of giving his little orders to people around him like "Swim to that bank" and "Take cover" and stuff like that, and Eastwood is nothing more than a sidekick that plants bombs and shoots people.
Burton's and Eastwood's characters were supposed to be part of a six man team that went to rescue an American general held captive by the Nazi's, but the other characters of that team do not get developed one iota and mostly serve to be a hindrance to the Burton/Eastwood characters.
Some parts of the movie are especially stupid, like where Eastwood tries to kill a Nazi radio operator by slowly coming up behind him with a knife. When the Nazi spots him, Burton decides to shoot him instead, but not before the radio operator sounds the alarm for help! Really stupid stuff! And this nonsense goes on for over three hours.
There are some things about the move that are worth watching, like the cinematography and some spectacular explosions. However the script is just really dumbed down, and when you don't treat your audience intelligently, all the explosions and camera views can't make up for it.
Don't waste your time expecting a good film in spite of the quality of actors involved.
Rating - 3