Spoils of War

When I was young I bought my first car which was very inexpensive. The purpose of this car was to get me to my destination. On my journey I didn't have much money for food, gas and motels. I ate cheap and slept cheap and certainly didn't drive a Cadillac, but I did get where I wanted to go.

The same can be said of this picture. With a limited budget, there were not the magnificent sets as seen in 'Saving Private Ryan' or mega star actors like Brad Pitt or Tom Hanks, and certainly the script could have been better written.

Having said that, the film maker did arrive at his destination also. No, not in the style to which we are accustomed. We should evaluate each film based on the story and budget and not base our criticisms on comparisons to benchmark mega-budget films.

This artist painted a fair portrait given a limited pallet of colors.

Most of what I would say has been said by other members in their comments.

Only thing I would add is the huge oversights in the sets. The barracks high in the Austrian alps in 1940's have metal frame windows.... possibly aluminium. I would imagine that they would have been wood frame back then.

In one scene, you can see two large propane tanks in the background. I am betting the barracks set is a summer camp, resort, or roadside motel.

In one scene, a barrack has a #2 on the door. In another scene, presumably at a cabin at a distance from the barracks, there is a #3 on the door. Again, indication of a resort or motel.

There is also in the cabin scene, what appears to be a steel-insulated door commonly used in residential construction in the modern day... the standard 6-panel design. Would a cabin in the alps have such a thing?

Effects were so incredibly weak.

Do yourself a favour, skip this one. I don't know what the producers were thinking.

This is one of the most disappointing war drama which I have seen in the last few years. I saw 'Counterfeit' last year which I think was nominated for Oscar 2009; this is not anywhere in the same league as that.

Besides all that, the sleeve of the DVD is entirely misleading, talking about Operation Bernhard and Major Falconer involved in a love affair with the young wife of Count Maldorais in the Adriennes Forest.

There are NO women in this movie at all and the sole concentration of the movie is on a group of soldiers crossing German lines and doing a lot of shooting, a little bit like cowboy and Indians with the Germans. If it was made on a low budget, the overall production reflects that.

this is essentially a movie about a soldiers greed for money when he realises that there is chance for the 'spoils of war' while in the course of doing his duty on a somewhat bizarre mission.

The dialogue throughout, although informative, seemed extremely contrived and I felt the acting was below average standard for a movie of this kind, perhaps not a reflection on the actors involved but on the production direction and screenplay.

Very little to commend though the real life shots at the beginning and end of the film almost gave the film some meaning.

Sorry folks, this just didn't deliver!

Bad acting, bad everything. They must've had 2 dollars to make this movie and everyone in it worked for free. The so called English soldier in the group had an awful fake English accent. Every now and then you could hear his American accent fall in. The German's spoke horrible German. We turned it off after watching for about 20 minutes. Don't even talk about the special effects. Cartoon like fires when bombs went off. During a close quarter gun battle, thousands of shots were fired, but no one is hit. We were surprised that it took twenty minutes for us to realize how bad this movie was. I guess we hoped it would get better and go somewhere.

This film is not good period. I thought the premise of the film sounded quite good, little did I realize how poorly this film would be put together. The production value was awful in every department. I've seen better acting by small town theatre groups. The portrayal of the era was poorly sourced. The phrase FUBAR was not a term used in WW2, that came along during the Viet Nam war era. SNAFU was used in WW2. I cannot believe anyone would fund this film, wonders never cease I guess. I'd really like to know at the end of the credits what the film makers were saying. If you watch the film make sure you watch right to the end and you will know what I mean. Crazy. To sum this review up the movie was FUBARed.