Opération Matchbox

I saw the last drop yesterday, and within a few minutes knew that i would be disappointed. The acting, on the whole was sub-standard, as was the script. And don't get me started on the score...whoever thought putting 80's style guitar rock music in the background during one scene should really be looking for another job.

The action, to be fair, had it's moments. There's a nice shootout near the beginning, and whilst there's no real 'gore' as such, the level of violent realism is fairly gritty.

I suppose the crux of my dislike for this movie is based around that fact that it seems to present ww2 in a light-hearted way. There's too many attempts at one-liner humour which just don't come off, or might be better suited to a romantic comedy. World War Two was many things. Horrific, heroic, gruelling, disgusting, wasteful...but funny it most certainly was not.

4/10

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.

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.

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,