Iron Cross: The Road to Normandy

I rarely write reviews but felt compelled to here. The film obviously had quite a good budget, given the amount of original (mostly) tanks, artillery and weapons shown and whilst it tried very hard to be realistic it failed in the basics. The first 40 minutes or so was a mainly non-stop battle scene where the heroic Germans had been pinned down and surrounded for some time, yet, everything was pristine. No rust on the barb wire, posts freshly cut, everyones uniform was spotless, most laughable the medical officer who wore red cross bib and armband that were immaculately white. Same thing when the action swaps to Normandy. I'm not being over picky here but as ex-forces I know that after 10 days of simulation we looked like tramps. This cleanliness took away for me any resemblance of reality and I feel a good chance to make a good film was wasted here. Also, terrible acting, bad sound, tedious music, awful effects and no real plot.

As some sort of cross between Cross of Iron at the beginning and The Longest Day at the end, it didn't really measure up to either. The acting and the action really didn't come up to much, the CGI explosions were awful and, a bit of anorak on my part, the German MG-42 machine guns were firing at a rate of about 500rpm where in real life they fired at closer to 1,500 which made them sound more like velcro being ripped apart. On the plus side, to give it three stars rather than two, the vehicles were pretty accurate which is quite unusual for a film of this sort and it was great to see a genuine 88mm gun being set up on the cliff. It would be interesting to know where all the gear came from.

Making a war movie isn't an easy feat. I have to acknowledge the work that went into this, but it's unfortunately wasted due mostly to bad editing and (yikes) English with German accents like Hogan's Heros. But there's also the bad acting, annoying music and many mistakes, including endless, meaningless shooting during which there's no apparent urgency; some soldiers aren't even ducking. I didn't make it to the end, but this movie definitely isn't your best choice and offers nothing new that I can see.

Ever seen those home made YouTube vids where teenagers make a 5 minute war movie so they can pretend to be a hero? It helps them forget that they're the runt that gets bullied every day.

Imagine if one of them was given a few thousand dollars? This is what they'd make.

The directing is so bad, lots of pointless close ups on bad actors. The special effects are laughable and not special at all.

I have no idea about the story because I lasted less than 10 minutes. But considering the clichés it started with I was certain that it wasn't going to get any better.

At best this is a late night made for TV film for a low budget station, nothing more.

Whatever qualities the move may either have or lack, the listing shows Odessa, Russia, as the filming location. It's Odessa, Ukraine, despite Putin's efforts to make it part of Russia.