I have to admit that I was initially lured into watching "Iron Cross: The Road to Normandy" as I found the movie's cover rather interesting. Though the fact that I enjoy World War II movies as well, and it being a movie that I hadn't already seen, also played in to make me sit down and watch this 2022 war movie.
Right, well I have say that director Tino Struckmann delivered an abysmal movie. However, it should be said thumbs up for attempting to make a war movie. That counts for something at least. But the storyline in "Iron Cross: The Road to Normandy" was non-existing, and the majority of the movie was just one long combat scene. Mind you, it wasn't a compelling, exciting or thrilling combat scene, not even remotely. And it was really hard to buy into the whole concept, especially since there were so many things wrong with the entire setup.
What worked for "Iron Cross: The Road to Normandy"? The uniforms, props, weapons and vehicles. That all looked great and definitely had a Word War II vibe to it. However, everything was just too shiny, clean and in mint condition. It didn't have a shred of believable conviction to it. War should be gritty, grimy and dirty, not clean and mint condition.
And what didn't work for "Iron Cross: The Road to Normandy"? Just about everything else. The acting performances in the movie were wooden, rigid and unconvincing, and the fact that all soldiers spoke English with oddly added accents just didn't pass as believable. The whole lack of convincing warfare and skirmishes just didn't play out well enough, especially because it looked like an amateurish war reenactment play. The lack of a storyline just didn't work out at all, because there was no enjoyment or entertainment to be had here.
I wonder how Olivier Gruner and Kim Sønderholm agreed to participate in this project.
If you enjoy war movies, then spare yourself the anguish of suffering through "Iron Cross: The Road to Normandy". Some of us did, so you don't have to.
My rating of director Tino Struckmann's 2022 attempt at a war movie lands on a two out of ten stars.
