Legion of Honor

Almost watchable until the cafe scene 41 minutes in. Give me a break!

three screenplay writers including the original author and director crafted this lukewarm screenplay. what we saw was a bunch of young men who came from all different regions or countries to blindly joined the french foreign legion, a mercenary-like commissioned army to deal with the Algeria uproar fighting France's colonization for independence. i have to say that all the young men who played the recruits of the french legion did great performances, their roles were very tough and rough, not an easy job to play those roles. but in the meantime, they looked not quite competent, especially the main character, the English young man who joined the force just because he got a broken heart from an unsuccessful romance in england. this young actor, although did a pretty nice performance, but at the same time, also a pretty bad cast. too youngish, too baby faced and also looked too unconvincingly weak. his best friend and comrade then became a turned coat who joined the opposition insurgent was a better cast but still not quite fit the role. the fighting scenes were brutal but not well directed and performed. if compare to similar historical background 'intimate enemy', 'incendis' and several other great ones, this 'deserter' would not even qualified as a good movie, just a lame, lukewarm movie that failed to connect the audiences or a viewer like me.

Paul Fox looks more like a paperboy than a foreign legionnaire and struggles to make anything out of the trite dialogue in this tale of life in the French Foreign Legion which is based on the autobiography of Simon Murray. Murray seems to have led an interesting life - in addition to serving in the FFL he was the oldest man to reach the South Pole unsupported and his wife was the first woman to fly around the world in a helicopter - but Deserter is desperately dull stuff. At least Tom Hardy is on hand to provide some acting chops as Fox's comrade.

Not the most exciting film in the world, and it would've been nice to see a bit more action on the battlefield, but as a cheap knockoff of much better movies like Full Metal Jacket, Deserter isn't bad at all.

Brady is quite effective in an early role, his camaraderie with his fellow soldiers is quite touching sometimes and what war scenes exist are efficient enough for a low budget flick. There is also effective use of overseas locations that add to the atmosphere.

For fans of his earlier work, it's well worth checking out... just don't expect it to go above 'average' at any point, that's all. 5/10.

This is a good 'Foreign Legion' Film and a fairly open representation of a very complicated Period of 20th century History.

France,Algeria and the Foreign Legion all were changed by this series of events and for Simon Murray this was very much a significant time of Personal development and Experience. He also wrote a Book about this time which is also a good read for anyone interested in Legion History.

This is one of Tom Hardy's early Films,but in my Opinion, underrated.

He brought depth and character to 'Dupont' and while the Script lost a little clarity at times by the end of the tale Hardy related the complex nature of Dupont and the Challenges facing many at that time and place!