I will begin by saying that the opening was impressive...but that was literally the best part - even though there was a date-typo. Ladies and gentlemen, this is supposed to be a WWII movie. Dates. Are. Important. As soon as we get into the true beginning of the film, it is painfully obvious that this movie suffers from a) horrible, stiff scripting b) lackluster directing or both. I will now outline a few things that made me shake my head and mouth "what the f**k?!"
In conclusion, I felt very let down by this movie. I've seen bad war movies but this really takes the cake. It made me feel better when I came on IMDb and saw that it was only given a 3 out of 10. Bravo, Spoils of War. You've earned it.
- None of the actors have any chemistry. All dialogue between them is clearly forced.
- They plan to go undercover as SS but can't even pronounce a German name properly (redemption: the British soldier saves their asses by showing that he can actually speak perfect German when they take out the gatekeeper. This was a neat scene, and the only one of the entire movie I actually liked).
- Lines are over acted, laughter is fake, facial expressions make them look like mimes and military hand-signals made unnecessarily dramatic (the guy is right in front of you, you don't need to shake your fist five times. He gets it).
- None of the actors act like soldiers. They hold their weapons like they've never held a gun in their lives and there's no unity. I'm not talking about personal like or dislike of each other, I'm talking about the group as a whole. This unit has been working together for at least a while, and yet they move like they're not a team. This is drilled into even the worst rookie in Basic Training and is only further reinforced as a soldier moves forward in their military career.
- What. Was. That. Blood. Blood does not whoosh in a thin steam like that from a gut wound. It pools. Come on. I'm assuming this was a low budget movie but so was Boys Don't Cry and it did fine.
- Aside from the music in the opening, all other background music was painfully obvious. Instead of contributing to the scene, it just stood out.
In conclusion, I felt very let down by this movie. I've seen bad war movies but this really takes the cake. It made me feel better when I came on IMDb and saw that it was only given a 3 out of 10. Bravo, Spoils of War. You've earned it.