The Second Front

This movie must be the culmination of every bad WWII movie ever made. It is incredibly inaccurate, unrealistic, and stupid. I practically like the stereotypical German with the monocle, the Russian spy with short, tightly pulled back hair and the American with the tiny mustache and bad haircut. Towards the end of the movie, the American character is holding a Kar 98, in the next scene it changes to a shotgun which he cocks, and then reverts back to a Kar 98. Hilarious. I think any attempt to justify the existence of this movie should be met with rancid tomatoes and other rotten produce. After viewing this movie I feel my IQ has substantially dropped. Please, please, please do not rent, buy, or borrow from a friend (although I question what sort of friend what allow you to view such garbage) this movie. It will be the greatest waste of your time since The Replacement Killers.

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....

The first thing you must do if you want to enjoy this movie is convince yourself that the notion that Nazi Germany would go to any lengths to capture and utilize a Jew for his intelligence is not utterly preposterous. If you are able to convince yourself of that, and you haven't seen movies like Enigma which would allow you to see through the thin plot, then you might enjoy this film. What the film makers failed to understand is basic Nazi ideology and doctrine, which shaped Germany's policies from 1933 to early 1945. Nazi ideology would not permit the belief that a Jew could be more intelligent than Aryan scientists, nor that a Jew could be an asset to the purposes of the Reich. I have to say that I had high hopes for this one when I ran across it at Hollywood Video, but I was thoroughly disappointed.

What a disappointment of a movie. I love a good war movie because of the valor, the bravery, the action, the love of country and dedication to a cause greater than one's self. Unfortunately, this movie was more like a watching military version of "The Great Race" where people are scurrying all over the world for uncertain reasons and competing in disjointed activities. The general story line has potential, but frankly, a group of ten-year old boys playing Army in the backyard could have come up with a more realistic plot and better consistency across scenes.

Another contributor to this board mentioned the lack of special effects, like outtakes or deleted scenes. The absence of those is a blessing to the viewer, in my mind. The scenes that made it to the movie were so tepid and predictable that I can't imagine what those on the cutting room floor must be like.

Save your time and your money. Watch "Band of Brothers", "Saving Private Ryan", or any number of other war movies that employ props and dialog consistent the era, credible story lines, and plots that don't require the viewer to keep telling themselves that the movie will surely be getting better any minute now.

I agree - this has to be one of the worst movies ever. I must admit that the designers of DVD cover work harder than the director to cox us in renting such movies. This was the case for me too. I wish I had read the review before I rented this movie. I agree; even if I'm given the option for free rental - it is still not worth it. The other thing I don't understand the 10 line minimum on the review on of a movie I really don't have much to say about. So I'm just going to keep writing and wasting some lines here. But I'm writing to be heard and to save others to refrain from renting this movie. There are other great independent titles to get!