The Popkorn Junkie :: Hart's War

I've been eyeing this movie for about a year back when Edward Norton was cast to star in the lead role, Lt. Tommy Hart. After Norton backed out on the part--for reasons unbeknownst to us--Colin Farrell was cast and put on a helluva show. I mean, wow. This guy is great. I bet a lot of people went to this movie saying how it's a Bruce Willis movie. How great Bruce is. Bruce this. Willis that. McClain this. John that. You get the drift, eh?

No, it's a very good war movie that stars the great Colin Farrell. I liked him in "Tigerland", he was okay in "American Outlaws", but now I love him...and don't even think of taking that the wrong way, all you gutter minds out there.

What really depresses me is that most African-Americans went to see John Q. before this. Now, Denzel's a fine actor and I'm sure his movie is gonna be killer, but meet, 2nd Lt. Lincoln Scott (Terence Dashon Howard), a Black person, who shows everyone in "Hart's War" what honor really means. I won't go further on this, because I don't want to ruin the movie for anyone. So go see this movie, no matter of your race, and learn what honor really means.

"Hart's War" takes place during WWII in Germany. Lt. Tommy Hart is captured and sent to a POW camp, but something just doesn't seem right to me. This is supposed to be a prison, right? (Why am I asking you? You haven't seen this yet) It seemed to me that the POW camp is being run by the German Colonel and the American Colonel--Bruce Willis--the POW. It just seemed strange that the Germans were giving a prisoner so much responsibility and respect. Is it just me?

About half way thru the movie, I was starting to hate it. I was thinking, "where's the plot?", "So this guy Hart gets captured and then we just follow him around the prison? Huh?" That's no plot, but then it got really interesting. The whole thing was leading up to the climax (duh)--a prison escape. Does it succeed? Does anyone die? Well, now I'm mister tight lips. Go see the gosh darn movie.

Recommendation: This is a magnificent movie. Wonderful acting. Excellent directing. Brilliant score. Superb editing. Any more adjectives? Excuse me if this sounds boring, but I have nothing but praise for this film, however, since my interest was not kept in full for the whole film, I'm taking away 1/2 pop. That's all though. Great war movie. Great movie about people in general. This is a movie that kids MUST see, because it's an excellent example of honor. This is a top-notch, can't-miss, and Oscar-caliber film.

-- James ( 3 1/2 pops out of 4 pops )

Talk about this film with other Popkorn Junkies

Other Junkie's opinions.....

Billy Ray ( 1 out of 4 pops )

Upon seeing the trailer for this film, I was impressed. Bruce Willis is an actor I really enjoy watching and the war movie genre is a genre that will always be interesting to me, even without Tom Sizemore in there somewhere. Alas, I really didn't care too much for "Hart's War", a film with ambition that seemed like a weird hybrid between "Schindler's List", "Jakob the Liar", and "Die Hard". I found the acting quite exceptional--I've never seen Bruce Willis this intense before. However, the plot is clichéd and recycled from several other war/action films. Using the best scenes from those movies would have made the film better, but sometimes they don't use the best scenes. I really don't know what else to say except--not everyone will dislike this film as I did; in fact, I am assuming most people will enjoy it. However, I found myself uninterested and bored through a majority of the film. I hope the same feeling will not happen to you. So, am I recommending this film to you? No, I am not.

Matt ( 3 out of 4 pops )

"Hart's War" is almost entirely like a stage play with numerous characters and lots of dialogue. A key element of the plot deals with racism which puts an original feel to the POW camp storyline which has been done countless times in film. Colin Farrell is great in the lead role and kudos go to Bruce Willis for not playing the main character. Other actors similarly give very good performances as well. While the film was somewhat overlong, it held my interest throughout. My major gripe is that the director felt compelled to put in a very gory, violent scene early in the film which was totally unnecessary and not relevant to the movie at all. This caused the film to be R-rated which means lots of teenagers who should probably see this movie not be able to. Overall, a good flick and I recommend it.