Battle Force

I picked this movie up on a whim, one of many recent low budget WW2 movies that seem to have been hitting the shelves of the straight to DVD market. I have no problem with low budget films of this type and recently there have been some good ones and this one starts out with noble intentions as the opening titles would suggest, that the film is about the story of a real unit, made up of Americans and Canadians (The Film the Devils Brigade covers the actual unit) but here unfortunately is where the factual content of the film ends.

Set just before the invasion of Scily an American recon unit (Apparently the 101st Airborne who never actually were there) are captured and another team is sent to rescue them. That's the plot in a nutshell. The DOP has gone to some considerable effort to give the film a warm feel to represent the right part of Europe, but this can't let the film escape the fact that it was obviously all shot in California. I would have thought someone could have least grabbed a camera and taken some shots of the actual island which could have been nicely edited in to compensate for this. The acting wasn't all bad, and there were some funny lines,(plenty are just awful) but that's the problem with this film, it gives the impression its going to be about a factual battle, then half way through tries to become Kelly's Heroes and does neither successfully. The unit don't act like a military unit, moving with caution in one shot and then sauntering along the same path with not a care in the world in the next moment. The Nazi officer is just comical and stands in the middle of the road firing his gun while gunfire rages all around him. The fight scenes are actually quite boring and full of continuity issues and often make little sense to the plot or serve to enhance the story. (Such as it is) This project obviously started out with good intentions and its not as bad as 'Rhineland' (That's way worse) but somewhere it got lost and couldn't decide what it wanted to be. If your going to make films set in Europe, then you need to look at A Midnight Clear for an example of how to do it properly (Shot entirely on location in the USA)

I wanted to like this film and for a brief moment I thought I might, but in the end there was just too much that was wrong with it, which was a shame, because there could have been a good little film here. Alas sadly not.

One of the worst war films I've seen. The low budget certainly doesn't justify the film being filled with errors. Many films use a low budget to enhance psychological depth or other aspects that can be explored even without money.

The errors are numerous, right from the beginning, making this a difficult film to watch until the end. Mistakes in setting, errors in uniforms, historical inaccuracies. The dialogues are truly poor and unprofessional, clearly lacking an expert on World War II military themes in the production. The actors are not very credible, if not entirely unbelievable. When I rate a film, I usually start from 10 and then deduct points based on aspects that I find poorly executed. It's difficult for me to give a score below 6 because I always recognize the value and effort behind the production of a film. In this case, I had to start from 6 because from the very first frames, the low cinematic quality of the production is evident. I've seen films made by amateur reenactors that were better done and even with even fewer resources than this.

Piracy the scourge of the industry? Hmm, and yet with piracy supposedly on the increase, the industry is making more profits than ever. Bigger and bigger profits, whilst agonising that piracy is killing employment. Big profits and yet jobs still have to go? Anyone spot the deliberate mistake?

It's a mistake that supposedly leads the film and music industries to try so hard to smash the internet completely, on the basis that we are all pirates, liars and thieves and would never ever pay for anything - even if it was worth it! But so much produce of Hollywood and the music industry is dross polished up and advertised as gold - which in my books is genuine fraud - so who are actually the pirates?

I never object to paying good money for a good movie. I don't think many people do at all. But a turd polished up to sparkle is still a turd, even if you sell it as gold - "Look at the shine! Don't look behind the sparkle!"

Of course, the real mistake is thinking that people would actually pay for a ticket to buy this dross if only they hadn't been able to download it. I wouldn't have paid 5p to watch this (a friend treated me - and I didn't contribute) as it's basically a Sunday afternoon TV movie, to watch after you eaten too much lunch and consequently can't be arsed to change the channel even though you have the remote in hand.

Thanks for making snooze material Hollywood, I won't demand a refund of my 90 minutes of life, as I actually enjoyed the nap, but never assume that I will buy a ticket to support mediocrity. I get that free from the television. So count me out of your statistics.

As for this film, my opinion is zzzzzzzz

Let me begin by stating I suffered permanent brain damage watching this film. Just a little warning before we begin.

I appreciate the effort put into to making a film...I really do. Not much here to praise outside the competent camera work. This poor creature should be put down and given a decent burial.

This film revolves around a group of 1st Special Service Force guys scoping out Sicily prior to the allied invasion. Hey guys, the 1st SSF was never used in Sicily since the unit was heading for the Aleutians at the time. If I'm wrong I apologize.

The actors try hard. There just isn't much to work with. Watch for the largest 101st Airborne paratrooper in history. Probably took two chutes for him to make it to the ground safely. Check out the lip gloss on one of the partisan chicks. Very popular in Sicily at the time.

The combat scenes, if you can call them that, are just awful. Come on guys, there has to be someone in California who did a hitch in the Army Infantry. A little tactical advice could have gone a long way.

My suggestion is to dig up a copy of the "Devil's Brigade" with William Holden and watch that if you want a good war film with 1st Special Service Force action.

Sorry folks.....this movie has terrible acting and a terrible script. Simple awful.

I really enjoy WWII movies and have seen 100s of them. Realism is a must in any good action flick (Patton, Go Tell The Spartans, Das Boot, etc).

From haircuts to scripted words and phrases, this movie was strictly 1975ish.

The German commander could well have been the commandant on "Hogan's Heroes" and I kept expecting Sgt. Schultz to appear in the next scene.

The best part was when this thing finally ended.

Do yourself a favor and view an old episode of "F Troop" instead!