20140614: Action Review--Company of Heroes

Company of Heroes

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2013, rated R, 100 minutes, action, drama.
2. IMDB: 5.1/10.0 from 3,760 audience ratings.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No Reviews Yet,' and 38% liked it from 417 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.7/5.0 from 204,392 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Don Michael Paul.
6. Starring: Tom Sizemore as Dean Ranson, Chad Michael Collins as Nate Burroughs, Vinnie Jones as Brent Willoughby, Neal McDonough as Lt. Joe Conti, Dmitri Diatchenko as Ivan Pozarski, Juergen Prochnow as Luca Gruenewald.


2. Setup and Plot
1. The film opens in World War II, European theatre, December of 1944, Belgium in particular.  On a routine patrol, a squad loses their sniper to German sniper fire.  When they return to base, they get a cake walk assignment to deliver Christmas hams to a forward operating position.  The Allied forces are confident; Belgium was taken months ago.


2. The bigger group taking the hams includes Dean Ranson, who used to be a lieutenant before his squad got wiped out in fifteen minutes.  Now he's a cook.  Conti is the lieutenant in charge.  Nate, who killed the German sniper in the first scene, becomes Conti's new sniper.  The hams and several men are soon lost to a German attack featuring mortar fire, snipers, and machine guns.  Nate proves himself again.


3. The protagonists battle on, make new allies along the way, and encounter a number of tough fights.  They work with Willoughby, a British agent, and Pozarski, who claims to be a Polish prisoner of the Nazis.  Of course, he's not.  As the film continues, the small group takes on a mission for the OSS, which involved a Nazi 'super weapon' under development, and the rescue of one of its developers, Dr. Gruenewald.


4. Will they be able to stop the use of the super weapon and rescue Dr. Gruewald?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Mostly solid piece on the Battle of the Bulge toward the end of WWII.
2. Three stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 6/10 Lens flare.  Was Jar Jar Abrams about?  Sloppy, bumpy, jumpy shaky cam work was disruptive when it appeared.  The CGI for the WWII aircraft was sometimes noticeably bad.


2. Sound: 8/10 Nice and rich.  Music was a bit florid, though.


3. Acting: 7/10 Reasonably good.  I liked Tom Sizemore's earthy work, Chad Collins' performance, and the presence of Vinnie Jones.


4. Screenplay: 5/10 The shift from competent low-level infantry work to high-level spying in enemy territory was well over the top.  The segment of getting the bomb before the Nazis use it was a bit more engaging, but not all that believable either.  The cliche ending pieces (you have done us a great service, but you do not get to talk about it, plus visiting the father's grave) were well done but still cliches.