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HART'S WAR
Review by Gordon Justesen
Stars: Bruce Willis, Colin
Farrell, Terrence Howard, Cole Hauser, Marcel Iures, Linus Roache
Director: Gregory Holbit
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1, French, Spanish, & Portuguese Dolby Surround
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1, Standard 1.33:1
Studio: MGM
Features: See Review
Length: 125 Minutes
Release Date: July 9, 2002
“If one man has to be sacrificed
to take out that target, then that’s the way it has to be.”
“I agree completely, sir.”
“Good.”
“But I think that one man should
be you!”
Film ***1/2
The past several months have been swamped with endless
films involving the military. In fact, ever since Pearl Harbor invaded
theaters over a year ago, and with the crisis of 9/11, Hollywood felt it very
necessary to land an endless array of war films as a possible way of celebrating
the American spirit. Films such as Black Hawk Down, Behind Enemy
Lines, We Were Soldiers, and the current Windtalkers have helped to
make the war movie genre more alive than ever. While those films all do
remarkable job of capturing action within the confines of a specific
battlefield, Hart’s War, another acceptable entry in the war film
genre, captures a battle of a different sort; one away from a battlefield.
Set upon a Nazi prison camp during the midst of World War
II, Hart’s War is a unique story of honor and courage, when both are
strongly needed even in battles far away from an actual war. The film’s
central character is Lt. Thomas Hart (Colin Farrell), whose expertise has kept
him away from the battlefield and more within the confines of military
headquarters. That all changes though when Hart, agreeing to aid a soldier to a
specific location, is captured by enemy troops and soon put on a prisoner train
en route to the Nazi prison camp known as Stalag VI A in Augsburg. After
surviving a sudden massacre when first arriving nearby the camp, Hart meets the
man who controls his barrack, Col. William McNamara (Bruce Willis) who quickly
informs the new arrival on the daily rules, including most of all, how not to
enrage their Nazi captors and getting killed in the process.
Situations grow even more complicated when two new
soldiers, Lieutenants Scott (Terrence Howard) and Archer (Vicellous Shannon),
enter the barracks. Since the two new arrivals are black, it invokes much heated
racial tension from some of the racist soldiers in the barrack, particularly
that of Sgt. Bedford (Cole Hauser). It isn’t too long until Archer is framed
for a crime and killed on the spot, enraging Lt. Scott, who suspects Bedford of
the foul play. When Bedford turns up dead, and Scott as the prime suspect, an
unexpected gesture is executed. The head of the prison camp, Col. Visser (Marcel
Iures) allows Lt. Scott to stand trial for the murder, and McNamara immediately
assigns Hart as Scott’s lawyer. It’s seems more like a no-win situation,
since Hart claims not to be a lawyer, though in McNamara’s eyes, he thinks and
talks like one.
From this point on, Hart’s War elevates into an
enigma of a courtroom mystery that is very professionally handled by a finely
tuned screenplay by Billy Ray and Terry George. Along the way, there are
numerous unexpected twists and turns as the true motivation for the trial is
revealed, and every surprise near the end is crafted in a most original way.
The performances are superb and of top notch quality. Bruce
Willis, in another superbly subtle performance, delivers a first in the sense
that the character he is playing is a bit complicated. There is a certain point
in the film where you’re not sure whose side he’s on, or what his
motivations are, and Willis perfects this notion throughout the film. The real
star of the movie, though, is newcomer Colin Farrell, who delivered a knockout
debut performance in Tigerland, and can currently be seen in the
excellent Minority Report, as the title character of Hart. Farrell brings
to this performance a strong sense of realism and dedication just like a
true-life military lawyer would, from my point of view. Finally, Terrence Howard
is absorbing as the soldier on trial who fears that race is the sole purpose of
his conviction.
Hart’s War is a top-notch military drama, and the best movie of its kind since Courage Under Fire.
This is by far MGM most
outstanding video transfer in quite sometime, meaning that image remains
perfected from frame one to final frame. The settings of the movie include
scenes that take place mainly outdoors, and the snow-filled settings of Germany
are captured wonderfully. Even the darker lit scenes turn up excellent, and the
many absorbing colors appear a hundred percent vibrant. A striking video
presentation that truly ranks among the studios’ all time best-looking DVDs.
For the most part, Hart’s War is a dramatic piece composed mainly of dialogue, but it does carry a
few action scenes that sound absolutely stunning in this soaring 5.1 channel
mix. These two or three scenes aren’t exactly lengthy, but they standout as
the most outstanding moments in the presentation. But even away from the action,
the audio transfer triumphs in other areas, including dialogue and distinctive
sounds provided by the setting.
A nice list of
extras this time around from MGM, including two commentary tracks, one with
Bruce Willis, director Gregory Holbit and screenwriter Billy Ray, and the other
by producer David Foster, ten deleted scenes with optional director commentary,
a photo gallery, and a trailer for this film, as well as one for Windtalkers.
Summary: