Company of Heroes (2013) Reviews

• No attempt to be a realistic war movie

  mike-ryan4552013-02-26

  I am watching Company of Heroes presently. The story is set in the Battle of the Bulge period. The force on the attack are Americans. Normally in a war one uses the weapons of your own side. The "sniper" hero is carrying a post-war FN-49 rifle. It was first issued to a military unit in 1949. Another soldier in the unit was carrying a British issue Number IV Mark 1 or Mark 2 SMLE infantry rifle. Their historical sins were not limited to the American unit. It may sound trivial, but the babe spends half the movie in pants. That may sound trivial but the Feuhrer forbade women to wear pants. She wouldn't go into a Nazi base in tight fitting slacks. Well, you may think that's all trivial but that's just immediately ended the suspension of disbelief for me. It only gets worse from there. The plot is equally ludicrous. Let's just say that by the time the whole mess had happened, we have managed to run into a Russian who speaks excellent English and a British bar brawler who both save the day in their own way. So, is it a "stay away" movie? No. If you REALLY need something to soothe your craving for some violence or a 21st Century politically correct WW II movie, this will fit the bill quite well. But that's about all.

• where's Capt. Dye when you need him?

  smaaback2013-03-02

  With seasoned war film veterans this film really disappoints. Mainly because of the 1990's CGI effects and not being realistic. They use several clichés; unlimited ammo, inaccurate spraying of bullets when they shoot they're machine pistols, guys falling BEFORE the shot hits, and they fall several meters when they get shot, the Russians and the Germans speaks perfectly good English. I don't know how much Jürgen Prochnow got to play a part in this movie, judging by his acting, not enough... The only good thing is that that you get to see Vinnie being Vinne and beats up several guys on his own, which would be expected. A lot of not great acting in this movie..

• They don't make war films like this anymore.

  dndcullens2013-03-31

  Well, yes, they do, apparently. In the old days war movies used to be full of inaccuracy's, have stupid plots, really stupid action sequences and the occasional love story. They were enjoyable for what they were - a piece of entertainment but without the seriousness to stop you enjoying s good old fashioned shoot-em-up war flick. Then came movies like Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down to spoil the lot. All this realism, slight adherence to facts and decent story lines really wrecked the genre. So thanks be to God there is still someone out there who doesn't give a f**k about all of that and can still make the same pile of do-do we got in the 1960's. Guns that can shoot endless rounds of ammo, bazooka's which can blow up tanks, tanks that look like nothing you are ever likely to find in any book about tanks, German's who can line up as if on parade to get shot, prisoners who are well fed, camps which look like building sites, etc. etc. etc. This is not the worst war movie I have ever seen but it was close. What the f**k Tom Sizemore and Jurgen Pronchnow were doing in it only their pay check knows. And, yes, there is a nude scene for no apparent reason. Like the rest of the movie you ask yourself WHY??????

• Could have been much better with simple Director changes

  Sharpe5282013-02-15

  On viewing this film I was excited by the cast. As a fan of both Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers seeing cast members from both made me giddy with anticipation on watching the film. All in all the film story is quite good - I liked it. The acting is fine on most parts as you would expect from the cast - lets face it, several of the cast crew are more than qualified to fulfil their roles. I cannot believe the annoyance allowed to be taken over by this film by the dull and out of place sound effects and music - music being my main gripe. What on earth was the sound production crew doing? If you watch any good war film dating back to the 40's the music is not the bug of any film, until I saw this. There was absolutely no need for the music over the scenes, it made the film feel cheap (OK it is low budget) where no music would had made it feel realistic. The sounds of tank movements, back ground noise, shots, explosions would have made this film feel 200 times better rather than the music. Why? The sound effects ruin the picture and atmosphere. In general, the effects on video are OK. If there was a way to improve this picture just leave the voices in, delete pretty much all music and replace with sound effects. Score would then be an 8/10 (for a low budget film). I am at a loss why the hell the director commissioned the music. This could probably be sorted with someone with skill re-recording the sound. It takes away "the edge".

• Bad Company

  Theo Robertson2013-03-05

  This is a film that tries to market itself as Alasitar McLean meets Quintann Tarantino meets BAND OF BROTHERS . One worries though how the much hyped casting of Tom Sizemore may go down since it's sixteen years since he appeared in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN and one envisages him being more likely cast as the American equivalent of a character from DADS ARMYrather than a veteran combat soldier still able to kill Nazis . Thankfully the the years have been physically kind to Sizemore and the early scenes of COMPANY OF HEROES are relatively impressive . You do believe the film has transported you to the cold , snow covered Ardennes of December 1944 and any fears that you're going to be watching something on a par to the laughable 1960s big budget version of THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE are unfounded . Don't speak so soon Despite having some good cinematography and music there's little else to recommend . As soon as the Germans turn up in force you'll be surrounded by so many things wrong about COMPANY OF HEROES . One thing is type of tanks the Germans are using - they're certainly unlike any tank the Germans used but are also unlike any tank you've seen . It's also very obvious that the explosions are created via CGI on a par with the ones used in SyFy Channel productions . You'll also notice that the American weapons aren't American weapons from that period You can overlook these errors and perhaps suspend disbelief that the Nazis were close to developing the Atomic bomb if there was a compelling storyline but the screenplay is incredibly clumsy and strewn with errors that don't make sense within the film's own internal logic .For example : On watching the Americans escape on a train bound for Germany the chief Nazi villain states " So now the hunt moves to Stuttgart " . Wouldn't a better idea be to just stop the train and shoot the Americans ? Also fortunate for the story that the railway line is intact after all that allied bombing A Soviet character introduces himself and says he was a POW of the Germans . The problem is he's several pounds overweight , not something Soviet prisoners of war suffered from at the hands of the Nazis . I kept thinking this guy was a plant put there by the Nazis but as it turns out he is a genuine Soviet POW A character introduces himself as " 'Allo I'm Willoughby British airforce " . No Briton would ever describe themself in that way . It might be British royal airforce " or British RAF " but never British airforce Two characters walk down a busy street in Stuttgart speaking English and no one over hears them A character mentions the Nazis have developed an atomic bomb and yet no one asks the obvious question " What's an atomic bomb ? " I'm led to believe even the crew of Enola Gay hadn't heard of the term until they were on the flight to Hiroshima A character mentions they must " flee with the atomic bomb before the allies bomb the factory tomorrow " Would an OSS agent be told of the bombing schedule of the allied airforces ? If the allies want to get their hands on the bomb why not wait to see if the mission is a success before bombing the factory ? This had the potential to be if not a good wartime action adventure then certainly better than the mediocre mess that it ended up as