KingAtor42

On the surface, this concept has some very good potential. As noted by another review I read, this film has a lot of connections with other successful 'sanctioned violence to cleanse society' types of films like Battle Royale, The Hunger Games, or even Death Race 2000 for example. But you can easily see where there film cuts itself short and limits itself from the beginning.

First is that it horribly downplays real societal and national views, including the psyche of many of the key characters regarding the event. Second, it uses too many vacuous characters. Several are clearly nothing but obvious plot devices with no meaning. Third is sadly, I think budget ruined this film. One could have added a ton of depth to the family (and some of the villains for that matter) with another half hour of development. But that requires skilled talent and not mostly unknown character actors and actresses. It also amazes me how the 'best home security system' is little more than metal panels that can be ripped away with some horsepower and lots of video cameras. In reality, the ideal and actual solution would be more like Panic Room or to some degree, a house built like one big panic room.

This film in some ways reminds me of (although much better) the film In Time, which had its own great societal view and sort of twist on that factor. But while In Time as least did do some light investigation into the themes and morals of the real issues in the film (it could have done so....much....more), this film pales in comparison.

Since it loses any effort at going into real issues, it has turned what could be a great concept into just another attempt at a home- invasion/eventful night film. In that aspect, it does not stand up. ONe can only hope that at some point a visionary writer and director can see the potential and turn one of the later sequels into a real film.

This is what happens when one tries to force a capstone film on a trilogy that really did not need one. The fact is that the first two movies were big because the first one had a refreshing and unique take to it and let's be honest, the sequel just recycled it. This movie eschews that formula entirely. In fact there is no "how did this happen?" hilarity but rather a lot of bland, forced narrative. In fact, its biggest mistake is taking the two characters best used as momentary oner-liners and scene-stealers and trying to develop a whole movie around them. It leaned far, far too heavily on the very dry Alan and the 'Chow' character. He was a million times better jumping naked out of a trunk.

They avoid exactly what made them great to force a storyline that 'wraps up' the trilogy. Unfortunately, as many have noted, the last scenes are more like we'd expect.

When you take on a film like this, it's inevitable that you're going to be called out for its blatant racial factor. You really cannot do this film without acknowledging that you are trying to bring the glory of real men whose heroic deeds have bee obfuscated by racism and overlooked by history. It's folly to present what is most noticeably a film about an ethnic minority and their righteous contributions to society and then entirely skirt the race issue.

That's what happens here. The film not only merely broils down racial tensions and feelings to one or two key scenes but also later plays it off as "Hey, no problem" as if you know, racism is forgotten with a handshake and a beer. But it also does little to make heroes of the men involved. One is a hot-shot who won't follow orders, they take big risks on targets, their leader is a drunk, and they're all braggards and show-boat artists. Maybe the director was trying to play them off as being as human and real as every other soldier. That just like Caucasian soldiers, they had flaws too. Sadly, it was handled about as well as the black crows from Dumbo.

If you want a great film with a true WW2 pilot-native romance, watch Flyboys. If you want a film featuring flying fortresses, watch Memphis Belle. IF you want superior in-flight action from WW2, watch the key battle scenes of Pearl Harbor. If you want to find out about African-American contributions to WW2...watch the Truskeegee Airmen.

Otherwise in comparison this film is an action flick that seemingly is built on a basis of racial drama and social justice that fails in drama or any matters of racial issues. If you want to imagine a pack of loud-mouthed, harlem-bred, African-American young men shooting down some Nazis while playing up racial stereotypes and doing nothing to address the social issues of their location and time period? Watch this film. I give it maybe a 1.5/4 and that's being generous.