World War II: Les héros de l'ombre

I am watching Company of Heroes presently. The story is set in the Battle of the Bulge period. The force on the attack are Americans. Normally in a war one uses the weapons of your own side. The "sniper" hero is carrying a post-war FN-49 rifle. It was first issued to a military unit in 1949. Another soldier in the unit was carrying a British issue Number IV Mark 1 or Mark 2 SMLE infantry rifle.

Their historical sins were not limited to the American unit. It may sound trivial, but the babe spends half the movie in pants. That may sound trivial but the Feuhrer forbade women to wear pants. She wouldn't go into a Nazi base in tight fitting slacks.

Well, you may think that's all trivial but that's just immediately ended the suspension of disbelief for me. It only gets worse from there. The plot is equally ludicrous. Let's just say that by the time the whole mess had happened, we have managed to run into a Russian who speaks excellent English and a British bar brawler who both save the day in their own way.

So, is it a "stay away" movie? No. If you REALLY need something to soothe your craving for some violence or a 21st Century politically correct WW II movie, this will fit the bill quite well. But that's about all.

terrible acting of all the roles. those escaped pows looked like guys full of stomachs all the time. stupid sound track tried very hard to be sublime and patriotic. the lame dialog further deteriorated the performances of all actors. the fire-fighting scenes looked so staged. this is one of the worst wwii war movies i've ever seen. the whole movie fell so flat that you automatically disconnected yourself. got on a train to stuttgart before the nazi Germans, yet those Germans could have reached there so easily. the g.i.s, Russian and British pows all used sub-machine guns? and the ammunition they carried seemed to be never used up. then there's the opera singer, then the Russian could walked up to the guard and asked him to light the cigarette for him? my god, this movie is so awful and laughable!

I like WW2 movies. It's not that I expected a lot from this one. Overall it let me down. I have enjoyed some of the main actors in other movies. The premise was solid. But the overall feel of the movie was it was trying too hard. This is a B movie at best. I watched the entire movie and was mildly entertained. Set your expectations low. It seems that any "new" war movie is either a blockbuster or a sub-par offering. My personal rating system is fairly simple. If I watch the movie in it's entirely it automatically gets a 5, because it did what it was supposed to do. It entertained me. Company of Heroes will go on my shelf and probably never be watched again. It must of been a straight to DVD release. http://thelemondreport.blogspot.ca/

I watched the movie with my uncle, an infantry veteran who was a radioman during the Battle of the Bulge in the area the movie depicts. He was excited to see his unit's insignia, Indian head on a Star, and looked forward to the action. He came away disappointed. The story is fictional as explained in small print in a disclaimer by SONY in the rolling credits after the movie. The attention to detail was appreciated but missed a lot. He said tommy guns were a rarity to the infantryman. Eight shot M-1 was standard issue. The ease with which the enemy positions were penetrated was impossible. The weather conditions were brutal, not spring-like with melting snow and puddles on water. Troops sitting around with open jackets; really? No, in reality, the ground was so frozen, you couldn't dig a hole to hide from the incoming artillery! So, if you are looking for a Band of Brothers type of movie or Saving Private Ryan, you won't get it here. I am not totally dissing it; I appreciate the effort put into it. But it could have been so much better. The big question is "why not look for a plot based on factual context?" It is out there and other directors have had success with it.

From incorrect uniforms to incorrect weapons to incorrect armored vehicles to 4 engine bombers making a bombing run from what appeared to be about 300 feet this movie was constantly throwing so much comic book fiction stuff in your face it was impossible to follow the plot.

It also felt like a video game as a large squad of about 8 guys kill off hundreds of German troops. It was almost as bad as showing the little pac man life icons and then subtracting them in scene after scene as yet again the character implausibly survives to kill dozens more.

Too bad this movie could have been so much better just by someone paying attention.

Rating 3 stars