The Last Patrol (2002) (V)

Director:

Bryan Harley

Writers:

Bryan Harley (co-writer)
Andrew Isaac (screenplay)

Genre:

Short | War

Tagline:

War is life in its purest sense

Plot:

Sgt. Ron Marrick of the 101st Airborne is forced into leading a ragtag group of soldiers after their lieutenant is killed in action. The squad is ordered on a routine mission into the forests along the outskirts of Carentan, July 1944, in midsts of World War II.

Plot Keywords:

WWII

Cast

Andrew Isaac	...	Sgt. Ron Marrick
Jared Marshall	...	Pfc. Joe Liebgott
Gavin Ng	...	Pvt. Robert Chen
John Tapley	...	Pvt. Jimmy Strohl
Brian Kirkpatrick	...	German Officer
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Patrick Byrne	...	German Soldier #1
Stephen Rowley	...	German Soldier #2
Jeffrey Yuen	...	German Soldier #3

Runtime:

USA:15 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Fresno, California, USA

Company:

AMF Productions

The illegitimate child of Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers, standing in the shadow of its considerably more accomplished parents

Bryan Harley and his crew, AMF productions... they've brought some quite entertaining, and often rather competently done, short films to those of us who care to watch. This one seems a bit... "early effort", it's a nice try, but it has its shortcomings. The plot isn't particularly captivating or memorable, what there even is of it, and whatever point, if any, this attempts to make about war, well, it isn't presented with enough skill that it is terribly discernible, and the entire thing really doesn't make much of an impact on the viewer. The production values, on the other hand, costumes and props, tend to be pretty solid, save for one awfully glaring exception(was that just not possible to cover?), and, of course, the various inconsistencies and unrealistic details. The acting is decent, but at points it just does not work. The dialog is mostly good, and for its length, there is some reasonable character development. This is 14 minutes in total, and it isn't really ever boring, as such. Pacing is fine, if not that engaged or engaging. Editing varies, there could be more shots, it certainly couldn't hurt any, and little of it is effective. Intentions(of characters) could be clearer in one or two bits. The effects are OK, but while one obvious issue is faced head-on, their solution for it doesn't work out all that well(someone else comments on this in their review). Sound is a mixed bag. Music isn't bad, I'm not sure I noticed what someone else on here writes, that it's too loud. Sound effects could be better, quality, use, choice of which to use and such. All in all, you could do worse, and the price is right, but don't expect too much. I recommend this to fans of indie shorts, AMF and war films. 5/10