As my title says, the opening scene doesn't quite do the rest of the movie justice. A bomber crash lands in German occupied France. Not knowing exactly where they are but knowing that his crew is in imminent danger, the pilot orders them to pack up everything they can get from the plane. Of course, understanding the urgency he tells them to "hurry" while stopping to take a smoke break himself. Our forward thinking commander does at least take notice of the linguistic skills of the hero of the story, which he so aptly demonstrates by knowing "ier" is pronounced "eh" in Franch, and orders him to a near by farmhouse to be on the lookout for the Germans. This of course gets the hero away from the rest of the group, so that he can see our Nazi bad guy show up and murder all his buddies while he watches "helplessly" through the scope of his loaded rifle.
***A note to the writer/director of this film - you made a good movie otherwise, but the poor writing of the opening almost had me turn it off! The actions of the pilot were an affront to anyone with any military training, who had ever watched Behind Enemy Lines or really any film of a similar premise, or really just had any type of common sense.
As an alternative - maybe some of the plane crash survivors are "wounded" and we need to get them ready to move, but the Germans get their first. ***
After the opening, we are transported nine years into the future in Argentina to find our hero on a quest to find and kill the German who murdered his buddies. It actually turns out to be a very watchable film with a solid mix of action and drama. It's obviously limited by budgetary restrictions and has many other facets of "b-movies" like choppy dialog, scenes that occasionally drag, over the top characters and characters who suddenly change motivations because it's needed for the plot, or bad guys who all run out in single file lines one group at a time. But it has a compelling story that holds your attention.
When our hero has the final showdown, the film adds a little complexity to the villain, which I think was done nicely.
I give the film a solid 5, which may be a little high but reflects that after a cringe worth opening, I pretty much liked the film and enjoyed watching it. I mean, it's killing Nazis! I'd recommend it to others, with the caveat to temper your expectations and enjoy it for what it is.
***A note to the writer/director of this film - you made a good movie otherwise, but the poor writing of the opening almost had me turn it off! The actions of the pilot were an affront to anyone with any military training, who had ever watched Behind Enemy Lines or really any film of a similar premise, or really just had any type of common sense.
As an alternative - maybe some of the plane crash survivors are "wounded" and we need to get them ready to move, but the Germans get their first. ***
After the opening, we are transported nine years into the future in Argentina to find our hero on a quest to find and kill the German who murdered his buddies. It actually turns out to be a very watchable film with a solid mix of action and drama. It's obviously limited by budgetary restrictions and has many other facets of "b-movies" like choppy dialog, scenes that occasionally drag, over the top characters and characters who suddenly change motivations because it's needed for the plot, or bad guys who all run out in single file lines one group at a time. But it has a compelling story that holds your attention.
When our hero has the final showdown, the film adds a little complexity to the villain, which I think was done nicely.
I give the film a solid 5, which may be a little high but reflects that after a cringe worth opening, I pretty much liked the film and enjoyed watching it. I mean, it's killing Nazis! I'd recommend it to others, with the caveat to temper your expectations and enjoy it for what it is.