Recon

Lots of people got killed in WWII. You don't have missions of 4 people going off like random goats scurrying through the tundra for no reason. It's bloody stupid. What's it got to do with WWII? Absolutely Nothing, Huh, say it again. War, good god ya'll.

It's Italy in WW2. Four American soldiers witness their Sergeant killing a seemingly innocent civilian. The group encounters an old man pulling a cart who tells them about a group of nearby German soldiers. As they head off to recon their enemy, they fight among themselves and grow suspicious of the old man. It's a small war indie and it remains a small war indie. The characters feel small. The actors are small. The production is small. It's all very small.

Spend some money and hire some military historian, preferably specialized in WWII, or more specific Italy - Monte Cassino. I can assure you, they are a lot of them and more cheaper that any of those " seasoned reenactment specialists", or just spend some time researching, something like: List of United States divisions during World War II (on a very common website), and see that 5th Infantry Division, was nowhere Italy, ever, or that badge is also a fantasy, like parts of the uniforms, or the way they carry the rifle, just to name a few.

What this movie suffers from is a lack of originality and lack of creativity. It very much took from the horror movie style of dragging out a scene and making the viewer think a jump scare is coming only to reward it like once in the entire film with a meaningful moment. The majority of the film creates a bunch of build up and somewhat artificial tension to try and make the audience feel the hopelessness and turmoil of the soldiers. But frankly, they just didn't go through enough in the film to justify their stress and internal mutiny.

The film was clearly trying to showcase the impact of war on these boys but didn't think how to make the audience really care about the characters going through it in the film. Hard to blame the actors because they had to keep raising the stakes with the somewhat mediocre material they were working with and everything just felt very forced. A lot of the typical ingredients of fear, hopelessness and internal fighting amongst the soldiers were present but again, forced. The main lead keeps getting flashbacks and reliving the trauma of seeing dead civilians amidst assignment. The whole thing is incredibly forced and overacted to a point that just takes you out of it. I'm sure it's just what he was directed to do but the whole thing is too much and really sums up the film unflatteringly. Seriously, the main character spends half the movie with his face in a scrunched, enraged and/or tearful manic episode and it just doesn't really work well for the guy who's gonna be taking up the most screen time. It's war, it's horrible and traumatizing, and we need those "moments" but we don't need to see the main character wearing it on his sleeve the entire movie. Imagine Tom Hanks singular crying moment in Saving Private Ryan but for pretty much half or more of the entire movie. Not gonna have the same impact is it? Somebody should've told this director.

If you're into the genre I think this is worth a watch because there are a couple of sequences where the suspense is drawn out engagingly and it's a great example of a pretty low budget, simple concept style film.

I wouldn't call this a terrible movie, it's just definitely not a good one and only worth your time when you're looking for something you haven't seen in the war film genre. If you enjoyed the more subdued pace of the classic Band Of Brothers, there might be a couple of gem moments in this film for you. But they're few, far between, and add up to nothing much.

This is most definitely not a soldier's movie. It's a movie written by someone who creates an unbelievable world of war and soldiers and is directed and produced by people with too few funds and not a whole lot of understanding about film making.

It's a movie where a reconnaissance patrol always walks down the middle of roads or fields all the while talking loudly or shouting. Oh, and with lit cigarettes. Stealth was not their long suit.

It's a movie where young men in 1943 constantly swear and use phrases from 2019. Where a commanding officer orders that an unarmed civilian be shot and orders it in front of about 20 witnesses.

It's all simply unbelievable. And it's poorly made and made on the cheap.

I won't waste any more or your time. Just a friendly warning, don't view this thing no matter how desperate you are for something to do. It's that bad.