Company of Heroes (2013 Video)
1/10
Not the worst WW2 movie in recent years
6 December 2014
Warning: Spoilers
I can't call this movie a total waste of time, because I was reading my email while suffering through it. I had to quit watching halfway through. I could take no more.

Here's what to do if you know you are making a bad WW2 movie. Get actors that performed well in great WW2 productions, pay them whatever you have to in order to get them in your stinker, and hope they draw people in. Unfortunately, Tom Sizemore from "Saving Private Ryan" + Neal McDonough from "Band of Brothers" + Jürgen Prochnow from "Das Boot" + a bad movie, still = a bad movie.

This movie was obviously made by people that know nothing about the military, and didn't care enough to consult with people that do. I knew the movie was in trouble when people kept calling a sergeant "sir" throughout the whole movie. Even if a character was supposed to be ignorant of this, the sergeant would have corrected him. How many times have we heard lines in a movie like, "Don't call me sir. I work for a living."

You gotta love how worried they are about a "German" tank they encounter. They had to stop this tank before it overran their whole base, but they use their Bazooka rounds on the accompanying soldiers before FINALLY using it on the tank. This "Super Bazooka" is so powerful, that one shot at the tanks track blows the whole tank up in a huge fireball.

"The Guys" also have this capability to become things that usually take quite a bit of specialized training and time. Instant snipers. Instant spies.

OK. I realize getting the right equipment and weapons is difficult, if not impossible. Still, if you are going to disguise what is probably a Russian T-34 tank as a German tank - at least make it look like an actual German tank, like they did in "Kelly's Heroes". The makers of this movie were content with just hanging pieces of whatever all over these tanks so they looked like anything besides what they actually were.

The best equipment goof was the train engine seen in most of the close shots. A typical old steam locomotive usually seen in old westerns, and of the type used in the late 19th century, complete with "cow catcher", large stack and cab.

This movie doesn't seem to know what it is trying to be either. Is it trying to be an alternate history, like "Inglourious Basterds"? That would be the only way to explain the Nazis having anything close to nuclear weapons capabilities. Is it trying to be like a graphic novel, with all the blood squirting, body-squishing tank scenes? Is it a comic book, with it's main antagonist adorned with some weird metal leg brace, walking cane, and serious (bad) comic book persona.

The only thing that looks halfway decent is the uniforms. Some people have commented about wrong patches and insignia, but the overall look-and-feel seems right. OK. I've never heard of anyone in the RAF (Vinnie Jones character) wearing berets or calling themselves the British Air Force or anything other than RAF.

A terrible movie with so much wrong with it that all I can say is that it MIGHT be better than "Ardennes Fury". Watch it for free if you want a good laugh.
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