Fortress (2012) Reviews

• The little war movie that could

  illterminally2012-01-02

  The short and skinny here is, if you like war films (i.e. Memphis Belle (1990)) and want to kill 90 mins or so, this movie will do the trick. The writing isn't terrible...the story is acceptable...the actors are all unknowns (except Chris Owen, "The Shermanator" of American Pie fame) but manage to hold their own and deliver their lines convincingly enough. There were a few scenes where the the backgrounds were a little weak (poor green screening), but they weren't very long and weren't game-breakers. I have seen many, many B-Rated movies and this one was a surprise in that it succeeded in not being an A rated film, and at the same time, better than most B rated films. It's a diamond in the rough, but entertaining enough to not be a total waste of time.

• Damn good!

  mike-ryan4552011-12-20

  If you like flying movies or World War II movies, I don't think you can go wrong with Fortress. The movie is about the crew of a B-17 Flying Fortress flying out of North Africa during World War II, during a time of very high casualties. It centered on the crew of one plane, as they fought and as many of them died. It was generally quite good. On the up side, they had a credible, real story and a pretty good set of actors. The special effects were generally pretty good. They didn't make any historical errors I spotted either. It wasn't perfect. Some parts were predictable and there were lapses in special effects. But it was good and I definitely enjoyed it. Give it a try and I think you'll enjoy it too.

• Well worth a watch

  markleachsa-12012-02-01

  After a string of stinkers out of Hollywood lately, I wasn't expecting much from this film, with its cast of little known actors. And at first I thought it was living up to my expectations, with a few glitches here and there dragging my attention out of the story. But it kept pulling me back and I found at the end that I was thoroughly absorbed. It hammers a few points perhaps over-strongly, where subtlety might have been more elegant, but it had an honesty that overlaid that. It isn't gung-ho like a 60's war movie, and it isn't ultra-realistic like a modern battle film, it's somewhere in between and has a charm and compulsion of its own that made me very pleased to have watched it. Forgive it its few faults and it will reward you with a good watch!

• Way better than Pearl Harbor

  waffe1092011-11-14

  Hi everybody: Here's what I thought. Movies about this subject especially American films tend to go way over the top if you know what I mean. Too much sis boom bah let's go win the war all by our selves sort of thing. This wasn't like that at all and I liked that very much. The music was not good. Too bad. I liked the fact that they were in North Africa, probably Tunisia. That was nice for a change. I thought the CGI looked very good especially the German 109s. The camouflage, markings and dimensions were right on. They looked like BF 109 G10s from JG 52. So many war films don't give two cents about what enemy aircraft look like but in this film they did. I know all of this because I've been researching WWII aeroplanes for about thirty years. Pearl Harbor was made to make big bucks and is one of the worse WWII movies ever. This little film was better.

• Great movie done without big box office budget

  cstevans2012-08-26

  Yes there are flaws in this film, but all movies have their flaws. The ones in this particular movie are very minute. In fact there is no point in pointing them out. I'm a huge fan of World War II movies when done right. In fact my template to compare is the Band of Brothers series. In my opinion Band of Brothers is a ten and so if you see my rating of an eight then you should see yourself enjoying this film. What is also great is after the credits the film makers actually apologize for their mistakes and give reasons why. I felt they didn't need to, but it just strengthened my enjoyment of the film that much further. If you have enjoyed films such as Tora,Tora,Tora, Midway, The Battle of Britain, etc. Then you should not have any problem sitting through this film.