Because I enjoy Saints and Soldiers, the first film in this trio (it's not a "trilogy" because the stories are not connected), so much every time I see it, I had high expectations for this film. The production team even assured me when I voiced my concerns about their treatment of my beloved Airborne that they "think we got this one right". The first one was so well-made, especially when one considers the shoestring budget upon which it was made. I even made sure that I saw this one in a theater, as I did with the first one.
I was utterly and thoroughly disappointed.
Here's a partial list of problems with this film, and this is where the spoilers start:
1. The film takes place during World War II, which ended in Europe on May 8, 1945. The "Airborne Creed" was created in 1977. Some of us would call the title a 32-year anachronism, so we've already started out on bad footing.
2. Jasen Wade's character, Cpl. Curtis, in the first six minutes of the film, watches a flare go up over the DZ (drop zone). Even non-combat personnel in the Army are trained in basic training to NEVER look at the flare. Okay, now he's blind for ten minutes. Well, he would have been in the real world.
3. Curtis is captured by a squad of Germans. Corbin Allred's character, T/5 Rossi, happens upon the group, but he isn't seen. To rescue Curtis, Rossi tosses two grenades into the clearing where the Germans are about to shoot Curtis. Rossi has been issued special grenades that only kill Germans, so Curtis is untouched by any grenade fragments. He exchanges gunfire with the three remaining Germans and rescues Curtis.
4. Curtis and Rossi are wearing American flag patches on their left sleeves, and no division insignia. Curtis is wearing his above his rank insignia, and Rossi is wearing his below it. The optional flag patch was worn by 82nd Airborne troopers on the right shoulder during D-Day for Operation Neptune/Overlord, and generally discarded within a day or two. Nevertheless, the filmmakers must have felt it necessary to incorporate every Airborne cliché that they could find.
5. The three American paratroopers upon whom the story is centered come into contact with Emilie (Virginie Fourtina Anderson) a member of the French Resistance, who doesn't speak much English. However, during the only scene in which she does speak English, she does so fluently, without an accent, and with a pretty good vocabulary. When I was in France on a family vacation in 2012 and encountered someone that "didn't speak much English" it meant that their English vocabulary was almost as limited as my French vocabulary, and their accent was very strong.
6. In a later scene, Emilie seems to forget that there's a war on, and decides to challenge Rossi to a marksmanship contest. Because he also sees no reason to not waste ammunition and risk giving away their position to any German patrols in a mile or so radius around them, he accepts the challenge. Naturally, the girl in the resistance shoots better than the highly trained professional soldier does, which you couldn't possibly see coming, right? Well, here's the secret: she uses a period-correct Soviet Mosin-Nagant sniper rifle which would not have been in France at that time, and if it had, she certainly wouldn't have been able to find ammunition for it.
7. The group meets up with an American officer and his jeep driver. This is the same scene in which the aforementioned marksmanship contest takes place. After the contest, the officer and his driver are about to drive away when Sgt. Jones (David Nibley) notices a pair of German binoculars in the back of the Jeep. Naturally, that means that the officer and his driver are spies. Why? Because in the world in which this film was produced, no one in World War II ever picked up equipment that belonged to the enemy. During the ensuing interrogation we learn that the American major is actually a German spy, but of course he is trained and hardened and has no intention of revealing any pertinent information. That is, until one of the French Resistance men shoots and kills his partner. At that point, he rolls over so fast it makes one's head spin. He provides full details of his mission (which of course, must all be true, because a spy wouldn't falsify that sort of thing), contact's name, contact's address, etc.
8. In one of the last few scenes before the end of the film, the Americans and the French decide to attack a German tank with small arms and hand grenades. Funny how these three Americans, one of which is a sergeant, seem to be the only ones that missed the training session about attacking an armored vehicle. If they had been to that training, like the rest of the Army, they would have known that those types of weapons are useless against armor. That's why it's armor. One must use anti-armor weapons against it, like an anti-tank weapon (Bazooka), a tank, an artillery gun, etc. If one does not have anti-armor weapons, one does not attack armor. Period.
This one could not have even lived up to even low expectations. It is a totally unrealistic fiasco that even Corbin Allred's strong performance (with the script he was given) could not pull out of the dog house if he had a three-inch thick raw steak hanging from his neck! The filmmakers either did not bother to consult with anyone that knows anything about military tactics, or chose to totally disregard the consultation.
I was utterly and thoroughly disappointed.
Here's a partial list of problems with this film, and this is where the spoilers start:
1. The film takes place during World War II, which ended in Europe on May 8, 1945. The "Airborne Creed" was created in 1977. Some of us would call the title a 32-year anachronism, so we've already started out on bad footing.
2. Jasen Wade's character, Cpl. Curtis, in the first six minutes of the film, watches a flare go up over the DZ (drop zone). Even non-combat personnel in the Army are trained in basic training to NEVER look at the flare. Okay, now he's blind for ten minutes. Well, he would have been in the real world.
3. Curtis is captured by a squad of Germans. Corbin Allred's character, T/5 Rossi, happens upon the group, but he isn't seen. To rescue Curtis, Rossi tosses two grenades into the clearing where the Germans are about to shoot Curtis. Rossi has been issued special grenades that only kill Germans, so Curtis is untouched by any grenade fragments. He exchanges gunfire with the three remaining Germans and rescues Curtis.
4. Curtis and Rossi are wearing American flag patches on their left sleeves, and no division insignia. Curtis is wearing his above his rank insignia, and Rossi is wearing his below it. The optional flag patch was worn by 82nd Airborne troopers on the right shoulder during D-Day for Operation Neptune/Overlord, and generally discarded within a day or two. Nevertheless, the filmmakers must have felt it necessary to incorporate every Airborne cliché that they could find.
5. The three American paratroopers upon whom the story is centered come into contact with Emilie (Virginie Fourtina Anderson) a member of the French Resistance, who doesn't speak much English. However, during the only scene in which she does speak English, she does so fluently, without an accent, and with a pretty good vocabulary. When I was in France on a family vacation in 2012 and encountered someone that "didn't speak much English" it meant that their English vocabulary was almost as limited as my French vocabulary, and their accent was very strong.
6. In a later scene, Emilie seems to forget that there's a war on, and decides to challenge Rossi to a marksmanship contest. Because he also sees no reason to not waste ammunition and risk giving away their position to any German patrols in a mile or so radius around them, he accepts the challenge. Naturally, the girl in the resistance shoots better than the highly trained professional soldier does, which you couldn't possibly see coming, right? Well, here's the secret: she uses a period-correct Soviet Mosin-Nagant sniper rifle which would not have been in France at that time, and if it had, she certainly wouldn't have been able to find ammunition for it.
7. The group meets up with an American officer and his jeep driver. This is the same scene in which the aforementioned marksmanship contest takes place. After the contest, the officer and his driver are about to drive away when Sgt. Jones (David Nibley) notices a pair of German binoculars in the back of the Jeep. Naturally, that means that the officer and his driver are spies. Why? Because in the world in which this film was produced, no one in World War II ever picked up equipment that belonged to the enemy. During the ensuing interrogation we learn that the American major is actually a German spy, but of course he is trained and hardened and has no intention of revealing any pertinent information. That is, until one of the French Resistance men shoots and kills his partner. At that point, he rolls over so fast it makes one's head spin. He provides full details of his mission (which of course, must all be true, because a spy wouldn't falsify that sort of thing), contact's name, contact's address, etc.
8. In one of the last few scenes before the end of the film, the Americans and the French decide to attack a German tank with small arms and hand grenades. Funny how these three Americans, one of which is a sergeant, seem to be the only ones that missed the training session about attacking an armored vehicle. If they had been to that training, like the rest of the Army, they would have known that those types of weapons are useless against armor. That's why it's armor. One must use anti-armor weapons against it, like an anti-tank weapon (Bazooka), a tank, an artillery gun, etc. If one does not have anti-armor weapons, one does not attack armor. Period.
This one could not have even lived up to even low expectations. It is a totally unrealistic fiasco that even Corbin Allred's strong performance (with the script he was given) could not pull out of the dog house if he had a three-inch thick raw steak hanging from his neck! The filmmakers either did not bother to consult with anyone that knows anything about military tactics, or chose to totally disregard the consultation.