Hart's War (2002) Reviewed by Eugene Novikov http://www.ultimate-movie.com/
"Your colonel is throwing you to the wolves."
Starring Colin Farrell, Bruce Willis, Terrence Howard, Marcel Iures, Cole Hauser. Directed by Gregory Hoblit. Rated PG-13.
Hart's War is a noble project, a prison camp movie jam-packed with plot, intrigue and good actors. When it is unsuccessful, it's because it actually spreads itself thin -- how often does that actually happen in Hollywood? -- overloading on storylines and characters. It wants to be Stalag 17 and Rules of Engagement and even Erin Brockovich. Director Gregory Hoblit makes a go of holding it all together and often comes up with an engaging yarn, and an interesting performance from Colin Farrell, the hot young actor of the moment, makes it a worthwhile matinee. I admired the movie even when it wasn't working.
Lt. Hart (Colin Farrell) has a sweet deal in the World War II military: a senator's son, he waits out the action in a Belgian office. On a routine transport, he is ambushed and captured. After a lengthy, grueling period of interrogation, he is sent to a nearby POW camp, housing hundreds, if not thousands of American prisoners. The soldiers there are treated with a modicum of dignity; the officers have their own barracks and have fairly flexible command over their men. Though a Lieutenant, Hart is placed in the common barracks; ostensibly as a result of space constraints but we get the feeling that his not being a Real Soldier may have something to do with it.
Hart befriends some of the men in the stalag and earns respect for himself despite his inexperience. He also discovers the racism rampant among the American military; when a pair of black Air Force Officers show up, the soldiers refuse to recognize them as their superiors. When a particularly obnoxious bigot is murdered, one of the new arrivals (Terrence Howard) is immediately blamed; though the evidence against him seems clear-cut, Hart demands a trial and decides to defend the man himself.
The enigma in the movie is Colonel William McNamara (Bruce Willis), the revered military strategist who resents wasting away in a POW camp. McNamara intends to use the trial as a distraction while his men tunnel out of the stalag and blow up the German factory next door. We're not sure until the end if he's a hero, a villain, or just Machiavellian.
Hart's War is really a quiet, brooding movie bookended by a couple of fairly exciting action sequences. It has two interesting characters in the two opposing colonels: McNamara and the German camp commander, played by veteran Romanian actor Marcel Iures. The ambiguity in their natures and intentions is gratifying when compared to the hero -- all budding naivete and sincerety -- and the villains, who are the stereotypical racist scum we are used to seeing.
Despite the simplicity of the role, or perhaps because of it, Farrell is affable as the title character; we identify with him even as we scoff at his new-guy idealism. Willis has played the tough, stoic officer before, in the superior martial-law drama The Siege, and he is suited for it; this is what he did before actually becoming a good actor a couple of years ago.
Hoblit knows how to make a competent genre film (see Fallen, Frequency), and he keeps the plot threads together until the climax when, unfortunately, they begin to unravel. Hart's War is a decent, enjoyable, if somewhat schizophrenic little movie that's unpolished, but ambitious. In this business, you have to respect ambition.
Grade: B-
Up Next: Queen of the Damned
Copyright 2002 Eugene Novikov
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