Wunderland

Some redeeming qualities but not many. The cinematography and sound track were pretty decent, the dialog and acting turned this into a titanic. The actual story of of the battle of the bulge is compelling and powerful and carries this film with moments of drama interrupted by high school level acting. It is shame to see such a great story totally butchard and degraded. I tried to give this film a fair shot but when an SS officer openly shares his faith with his prisoner as a sign of human commonality I just lost it. Not to say that men of faith could hide in the SS, his open and free expression exposed the director's and writer's naiveté explaining the childish dialog and directing.

The movie may want to tell some war stories from the battle of the bulge, but the characters are more than stereotypical and the acting is horrible. The only redeeming factor are the end credits where there are around 10-12 written stories of several individual soldiers accomplishing acts of bravery, acts of valour and duty way beyond any call of duty. Only these small written stories actually make you feel something when you read them. I know the director tried to gather these stories into one movie and with the right director and right script it could have been a succes.

I get that this is a low-budget attempt at depicting a topic that has been very well done in the past (Battle of the Bulge, Band of Brothers). I don't get "why this story"? It didn't add anything to any previous Battle of the Bulge film or insight. The uniforms may have been true to the period, but they were far from true to the battle... not a stain, not a spot on them, it really detracts from the believably of the film. They all look like they just stepped out of the local dry cleaners. The Battle of the Bulge went on for 5 weeks. They slept in fox holes, and endured rain and snow. There was nowhere to get your uniform pressed and cleaned.

The battle scenes were horrendous, people just walking around like nothing is happening even when their being shot at. No one takes cover, no one shows any urgency. Wounds are unrealistic as well, and there is no real "story". The viewer is supposed to assume they know everything about the famous battle. Character buildup was also extremely thin. It's been a week since I saw this movie, and I can't remember a single character's name.

Effects... bad, but no worse than USS Indianapolis. The bigger issue is it seemed like an excuse to rent a few WWII German artillery, and drive it around in the forest. All that could be forgiven if there was any plot or story, but there just wasn't. Seemed like a college film project, at best.

This is my first review ever..

Came into this movie not expecting much and attracted that Tom was in it. But boy should I have lower my expectations even further. Yes uniforms/wardrobe props look good. But not to blame the acting too much, they did what they could but with director and writer not making it easier for them.. the conversations the clichés of platoon life is laughable, the combat strategies and the nonexistent will to live given the positioning of germans and response to an ambush... Well next time maybe the director should do something that does not contain any kind of group dynamic as he struggles to make it seem real, seen lots of movies with bad acting but still the content made it better, in Wunderland its the opposite.

If you were expecting a modern day remake of the 60's "Battle of the Bulge" movie, sadly you will be left mightily disappointed.

The movie lacked atmosphere, nor did the director manage to covey the dangers, desperation, and fear from this battle. Considering this battle was supposed to be the largest and bloodiest battle the US fought in Europe in WWII, the movie made it look very tame, and almost calm by comparison.

It also portrayed the Germans to be stupid and disorganised, if going by how the movie's unrealistic battle scenes showed the Germans fight.

I think this movie is just an insult to the soldiers who fought there.

Save your time and watch something else.