The Second Front (2005)

User Rating:

3.9/10   

Director:

Dmitri Fiks

Writers:

Yelena Karavayeshnikova (written by) and
Chris Sturgeon (written by) ...

Genre:

Action | War

Tagline:

Every Country Wanted What One Man Possessed.

Plot:

In the midst of World War 2, intelligence services from England, Germany and Russia collided in a fierce fight for the mind of Nicky Raus...

Plot Keywords:

WWII

Cast

Craig Sheffer	...	Frank Hossom
Todd Field	...	Nicolas Raus
Svetlana Metkina	...	Olga Ryabina (as Lana Litwak)
Ron Perlman	...	General von Binding
Aleksei Serebryakov	...	Veklich
Aleksandr Dyachenko	...	Lubenets (as Alexander Diachenbko)
Aleksey Chadov	...	Bykov
Bohdan Graczyk	...	Hans (as Bogdan Graczyk)
Nicholas Irons	...	Garry
Guy Siner	...	Archer
Tom Lasica	...	British Agent
Oleg Drach	...	KGB General
Sergei Romanyuk	...	KGB Colonel (as Sergey Romanuk)
Vladimir Samoiluk	...	KGB Lieutenant
Anatoly Gnatuk	...	Piloy Lyakhov

Also Known As:

Второй фронт (Russia)
Stormbringer (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence.

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

Russia | USA

Language:

English | German | Russian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

USA:R | Denmark:15 | Argentina:16

Filming Locations:

Balaklava, Crimea, Ukraine

Company:

Film Commission of the Ministry of Culture of Russia

Goofs:

Factual errors: When Hossom and the "KGB" team raid the farmhouse, Hossom has found an German made, German issued Mauser k98 behind the enemy lines of Nazi-controlled Ukraine. He then proceeds to prepare for the raid by cocking the gun pump-action style. The Mauser k98 is a bolt-action rifle, as is plainly seen shortly thereafter.

An utterly pointless movie

I am a woman who appreciates war movies. Good war movies, that is. What I consider to be well-made war movie traits are an adherence to fact, correct use of language (e.g., Italian characters speaking in Italian and, bonus points, acted by Italians), a compelling story, and lack of jingoism. Oh yes, and NO "LOVE TRIANGLES" (note to movie makers: not all women need romantic subplots to watch a war movie. I mean, really, a "love triangle?" Millions of people were being slaughtered. Doesn't that fact make any stupid "love triangles" utterly irrelevant? If you really want to attract women, perhaps have war movies that focus on women who made a difference.)

A few war movies that I've appreciated that utilize some or all of these traits are "The Longest Day" (my entrance into war movies), "Band of Brothers," "The Tuskegee Airmen," "Kelly's Heroes" (Donald Sutherland. Priceless.), "Life is Beautiful," and "Breaker Morant." This movie, unfortunately, did not have any of these traits, save for the use of native language. Utterly pointless story and annoying characters. I can even make an argument for blatant false advertising - if you watched the movie, did you see the tanks or spitfires that are depicted on the DVD cover? Yeah, me neither. Although the sea plane was cool....

Save your time. Save your money. There are countless other movies that are much more deserving. "Kagemusha," for example....