What for the first 40 minutes or so seems like a good, downbeat and authentic ww2 drama sadly turns into just another phoney ww2 action film capped off by a contrived piece of irony. Anyone who says this is a better film than Saving Private Ryan seriously missed the point of that masterpiece and are more satisfied by a conventional war story here, despite the cynical and bleak depiction of the Hurtgen Forest battle. The film in fact seems to strain too hard to be bleak and gruesome in order to compete with Ryan. The stark realism however doesn't cover up the fact that the story, which keeps you interested all along, simply lets you down in the end. You never really get to know the truth about Manning , whether he truly is yellow, crazy, just an instinctive survivor, or a closet hero. Not one action he takes in the story is resolved by the conclusion. We just accept he has a heart of mud and acts and adapts depending on the situation. This just makes him a faceless character to me despite an impressive performance by Ron Eldard.
Another beef about this story is the portrayal of the replacements. Obviously these young men would have been prone to inexperience but all of them act like a bunch of 14 year old girls who haven't got the slightest idea where they are or why. The scene where Zak Orth gets seperated and hides behind that bush is so much a cliche from other war movies I wanted to change the channel. Not believable in the least. Ditto for the nonsensical way they charge the German artillery battery with the flame throwers. Regardless of the fear these guys would have conducted themselves in a less than over the top manner. War is hell but no individual ever wants to show his comrades, whom his life depends on and him theirs, that level of terror. It just doesn't ring true. If Orth's character snapped the way he did with that flame thrower he wouldn't have been able to mumble three coherent words in the scene afterward. If it were only his character dealing with his weaknesses it might have been believable. But the whole squad?.
Make no mistake, this is another vietnam story wrapped up in a ww2 setting. People, even in the wake of the new war on terrorism, still tend to think world war two was fought by cynical and selfish soldiers who had no sense of purpose other than to die for nothing ala vietnam. The allied fighting man of world war two lest we forget was mostly a volunteer who a sense of duty to defend the world from pure evil. This is not to say soldiers under Patton, Bradley etc didn't have their moments of disgruntlement and cynicism toward the men who commanded them. As they say, sh*t flows down. But to depict the American fighting man in ww2 as one who looks around and sees there is no objective other than to just to save his own rear at all costs is a slap in the face to those who gave their lives to ensure freedom. Manning's story has no other point in this context. Maybe if he truly WAS through too much combat and bordering on a section 8 there might have been a point. As it stands this film has nothing to say.
And to top it off it features Dwight Yoakam in a terrible performance as a Lt. Colonel. Nuff Said.
Another beef about this story is the portrayal of the replacements. Obviously these young men would have been prone to inexperience but all of them act like a bunch of 14 year old girls who haven't got the slightest idea where they are or why. The scene where Zak Orth gets seperated and hides behind that bush is so much a cliche from other war movies I wanted to change the channel. Not believable in the least. Ditto for the nonsensical way they charge the German artillery battery with the flame throwers. Regardless of the fear these guys would have conducted themselves in a less than over the top manner. War is hell but no individual ever wants to show his comrades, whom his life depends on and him theirs, that level of terror. It just doesn't ring true. If Orth's character snapped the way he did with that flame thrower he wouldn't have been able to mumble three coherent words in the scene afterward. If it were only his character dealing with his weaknesses it might have been believable. But the whole squad?.
Make no mistake, this is another vietnam story wrapped up in a ww2 setting. People, even in the wake of the new war on terrorism, still tend to think world war two was fought by cynical and selfish soldiers who had no sense of purpose other than to die for nothing ala vietnam. The allied fighting man of world war two lest we forget was mostly a volunteer who a sense of duty to defend the world from pure evil. This is not to say soldiers under Patton, Bradley etc didn't have their moments of disgruntlement and cynicism toward the men who commanded them. As they say, sh*t flows down. But to depict the American fighting man in ww2 as one who looks around and sees there is no objective other than to just to save his own rear at all costs is a slap in the face to those who gave their lives to ensure freedom. Manning's story has no other point in this context. Maybe if he truly WAS through too much combat and bordering on a section 8 there might have been a point. As it stands this film has nothing to say.
And to top it off it features Dwight Yoakam in a terrible performance as a Lt. Colonel. Nuff Said.