Opération Matchbox

First off, someone needs to teach Billy Zane what a Canadian accent sounds like.

His character is supposed to be from Windsor Ontario, about an hours drive from where I grew up. I don't know anyone who speaks in such a manner.

When he does research for his parts, he should go visit the "hometown" of his character to learn the way people speak. He uses the typical "Canadian" accent you see overdone on bad comedic TV.

Rest of the movie is standard good guy/bad guy/hero/villain/bungling henchmen movie set in WWII.

the special effects are OK for most of the movie, except for the airplanes in the first half of the movie. Should have used real planes instead of CG ones.

4 out of 10. I didn't turn it off, but it's not something I'd go to the theater to watch. Good to fill a bored late night, or slow afternoon with.

The U.K. has a strong tradition in making decent WWII movies. This, is NOT one of them! The acting, script, storyline, accents, special effects,... you name it, are just so awful. Mr. Madsen's appearance on the DVD cover drew me in but I was not rewarded with his capabilities. The same could almost be said of Mr. Zane who at least was capable and almost mildly amusing at times. It seemed he knew the film was rotten so he walked his way through the "action."

Mr. Tod (I do hope it is not Todd), I am sorry to see your money spent on this film. I do hope you will see the return of it due to rentals so that you can invest again in future UK films. In the meantime, I STRONGLY suggest avoiding this film at all costs. To see how a WWII film can be done in England, rent The Dambusters,

This exciting warlike movie is plenty of action,suspense and shot during WWII in the important campaign called Market Garden , the largest airborne invasion though failed . In a last attempt to end the war,Winston Churchill conceives an extraordinary plan , 35000 soldiers are dropped behind enemy lines in the occupied Holland by the Germans . It was a flop by the allies to finish the war quickly by securing three bridges allowing access over the Rhine towards Germany, being the most important battle ,¨the bridge of Arnhem¨ (events filmed in ¨A bridge too far¨as well by Richard Attemborough). This historic recounting was an unsuccessful operation by British and Us forces to cross the Meuse,Waal and Neder-Rijn rivers in Holland Sept 1944 . British airborne forces were to capture vital bridges at Arnhem to open the way for an armoured thrust from the south . When the airborne operation failed, the armoured force was unable to reach Arnhem and the whole operation collapsed . But into British troops there are a misfits group,one small unit , codename ¨the matchbox¨ (Billy Zane, Sean Petwee, Tommy Flannagan, Nick Moran, Neal Jackson, among others) led on a daring mission . They must discover a rousing treasure formed by artist objects . Meanwhile , another band of German crooks formed by three renegade soldiers (Karl Roden, Alexander Skarsgard, Laurence Fox) has their own agenda to steal a fortune in gold from behind enemy lines . Besides , a American sergeant (Michael Madsen) has his mean purports as well.

The picture is an explosive combination of warlike feats , adventures and suspense . The plot is partially similar to ¨Kelly's heroes¨ , as also different soldiers find themselves separated from the Allied invasion who want to claim a loot . This stirring film contains an excellent plethora of players as Billy Zane (Titanic, Cleopatra, Total calm) , Michael Madsen (Kill Bill I, II, Sin city) , Karl Roden (Fifteen minutes , BladeII, The myth of Bourne) and Laurence Fox (The Hole) , among others . The motion picture was regularly directed by Colin Teague . Rating : Average although entertaining.

This could have been a good film if only people had taken it's production a bit more seriously. We see several clips of a Horsa Glider being towed over to Holland. On take off it is towed by a 4 engine Short Stirling, then its being towed by a twin engined DC3 Dakota (C47). As they cross the Dutch coast it is being towed by a Handley Page Halifax!

The CGI is poor compared with other recent films, and continuity is a joke. The glider in the air has RAF roundels which on the ground become French! The glider in the air has RAF roundels which on the ground become French! How can so much money be spent on films only to have such stupid mistakes? It doesn't stop there what with a very modern looking truck being used in one sequence and later a very poorly disguised Antonov AN-2 trying to look like a JU52 on floats. The countryside and settings look very little like Holland...its almost an insult to our intelligence and sad when you realise that it wouldn't have taken a great deal to get it right.

Lastly, is it meant as a gritty heist movie, a gritty war drama or a bit of a romp? I got the feeling that the makers of this film changed their mind on a daily basis. If they had only stuck to their original idea I might have found it more believable.

For me it was when Michael Madsen made his first appearance, probably fresh from the set of the mega-hit Bloodrayne sporting a look that could best be described as a biker dressed in uniform.

This movie is a 6/10 only because it isn't boring. Horrible acting by most of them and Billy Zane must have been reading the 0's on his paycheck rather than the script cause he was the worst. Oddly though his is the first Canadian character in a long time that talks fairly authentically, at least for a Midwestern. Only problem is his character is from Ontario so thats like giving a southerner a New York accent. The movie constantly reminds us he is Canadian by him saying "Eh" nonstop. His character has nothing but one liner jokes I had expected this movie to be a serious war movie ala "The Great Raid" but it could be confused for a TV movie.

This movie started off OK but then decided the Nazis were too evil so turned them into good guys I swear! How sad is it when a war movie loses the courage to paint bad guys and makes them all likable (even the greedy fat guy).

I suppose the entire cast and crew voted for this 9.1/10 rating cause no way would anyone vote that after seeing this.