120 reviews
Sales Rank: 33749

Format: Ac-3, Color, Dolby, Dts Surround Sound, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
Languages: English (Original Language), German (Original Language), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: Blu-ray
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 125
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6

MPN: BRM106553
UPC: 027616065537
EAN: 0027616065537
ASIN: B00000F2UF

Theatrical Release Date: 2002
Release Date: January 30, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Brand new item

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Showing reviews 6-10 of 120

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This is an implausible story, yet leads to an engaging movie. July 5, 2007
"Hart's War" (2002) is strange film. It is intended as a "POW camp" movie and at the same time tries to be "original" or "out of the mould".

The story plot is as follows: young Lieutenant Hart is captured by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge and submitted to harassment by his captors.
After this shocking experience, which he barely survives, he is sent to a POW camp.
At the camp the senior-ranking American officer, Col. McNamara, does not allow Lt. Hart a place in the officer's barracks and send him to be the only officer in a NCO's barrack.
Soon after this, to make things worst, two Afro-American pilots arrives to the site and Col. McNamara decides to lodge them in Hart's barracks. In a time when racial segregation was still in force at the USA armed forces, this almost creates havoc, which Hart barely avoids. Still racial hatred takes its toll: one of the pilots is framed & summarily executed. Racist Staff Sgt. Bedford, suspected as the framer, is murdered and obviously the surviving pilot is accused of murder.
Col. McNamara asks for and obtains, from German camp commander, authorization to have a court-martial and designs Lt. Hart as the pilot's defender.
From here on no more details of the plot should be disclosed.

There are some improbable situations, IMHO the most blatant one is when the German commander accept being call as witness by the defense.
Nevertheless the movie is interesting and quite original.

Bruce Willis as Col. McNamara is impeccable. Colin Farrell as Lt. Hart is very convincing & compromised with the character. Cole Hauser as Staff Sgt. Bedford is in the line of one of those cynical hardboiled characters that often appears in this kind of movies.

Alar Kivilo's photography is over par delivering beautiful; yet full of gore, battlefield images. Also the camp scenes are visually great.

It is a good POW's film, not as gorgeous as "The Great Escape" (1963) or "The Bridge on the River Kwai" (1957), but deserves to be seen by any war film fan!
Reviewed by Max Yofre.

2 out of 5 stars

Wet Willis' for everyone! March 8, 2007
2 out of 6 found this review helpful

Welcome to a new style of reviews. For those of you who have been following my career, my comments on the films that I have seen have been lengthy, verbose, and at times, just plain boring. Today marks a day of change. I am finding myself with less time, energy, and dedication to the cause, so I am changing. Perhaps I will fall to the wayside, or pick up new fans - but for me, it is still all about the cinema.

War, really people, what is it good for?

Apparently, to those involved with the creation of the film "Hart's War", absolutely nothing - do you need me to say it again? To be short and sweet, pretty-boy Farrell gets caught by Nazi's, tells a dirty secret, and somehow gets put in the posh-of-the-posh POW containment camps this side of Germany. No brutality, no murder, no starvation - just simple catered meals and a freedom like no other. Willis plays a Colonel that somehow was captured and has named this base as his "luxury" suite. He is best friends with the Nazi commander, while all the time planning the big escape.

Did I hint towards "The Great Escape" - please don't think the same thoughts with this film. What makes "Hart's War" a bit more random than you typical war film is that the bigotry, hatred, and racism comes from not the Nazis, but the American soldiers. It comes in the form of Terrance Howard. One time racism turns its dirty head, people look the other way - but the second time, it takes us into a melodramatic, off-the-beaten-path courtroom drama that can be viewed in an assortment of regular films. It sparks nothing new, nor anything of interest. Continually, we wait for Howard, or Willis, to shout that cult-like phrase, "You can't handle the truth", and it nearly happens, when Willis reveals his wild card and changes the course of the war forever.

How bland.

"Hart's War" fails because it involves too many elements and not enough time, or maybe, too many elements and too long of time. Instead of sticking with a war story, we are bludgeoned with another story of racism, another story of respect, another story of lies, and jumbled between it all a story about escape. It is too much for one film to handle, and as our characters become less and less dimensional, as does the film. Willis is Willis. If you have seen any of his work this decade, you have seen his character in this film. Farrell remains shaved and pretty-boy throughout the film, continually denouncing the authenticity, which was already faulted by the fact that it seemed like nobody was against anyone in this camp. I think that is what struck me as odd, the layout of the camp. Why were the Russians treated worse than the Americans? Did they not have a Bruce Willis of their own?

Questions upon questions continue to pile until we think we have had enough then another world opens in the final act giving us another reason to yell, "oh brother!". The ending lacks consistency, as we are left with no resolutions, no finale, and no moment of Zen. It is perfect for you Willis nay-slayers out there, but for the rest of us, we are left with a symbolic ending that will bring a tear to the women, and the rest of us demanding our money back.

This film contained very little action, very little suspense, and very little answers to bigger underlining questions. It was a hastily put together film that boasted big names, but bigger downfalls. For two hours I was plummeted into everything Hollywood could think of to throw into a film. While I believe it had potential, what happened in the end is that the director could not control the momentum. This is strange, because I loved "Fallen" so very much. "Hart's War" did start strong, in my eyes, with some decent cinematography (I enjoyed the opening snow scene), but fell of the face of the Earth by the end of the first hour.

So, again my friends, I must ask - what is war good for?

To my reply ... absolutely nothing.

I cannot suggest this film to friends or family. Poor acting, too many plot points, and an unresolved ending makes me give "Hart's War" a

(wait for it ...)

BLAH!

5 out of 5 stars

Good performances, interesting plot! February 9, 2007
"Hart's War" is one of those often forgotten war movies, sometimes hard to find in the rental aisle, but a good part of any collection. It features one of the best performances by Colin Farrell, a then promising young actor (pre Alexander, Miami Vice). Bruce Willis also offers understated yet solid acting. Notable performances by Marcel Iures and Terrence Howard are also worth mentinoning. The plot offers intrigue, action, a courtroom drama and relevant issues. Highly entertaining!

4 out of 5 stars

Compelling Drama sabotaged by Marketing Campaign that tried to make it an Action movie! August 19, 2005
8 out of 9 found this review helpful

I finally got around to watching this movie last night (after buying it for $4 on DVD a few weeks ago) and I can say I was very pleasantly surprised by it after reading so many negative reviews.

The Problem: This film was mareketed poorly - the trailers give an accurate idea of the content, but they give you the wrong impression as to the tone. Because Bruce Willis is in it, they chose to make it out to contain tons of action and heroic combat! They also chose to make it appear to be a Bruce Willis vehicle. Let me tell you, if you are renting or buying it for either of the above reasons, you will hate it! The "combat action" scenes are sparse (two scenes) and extremely short (though very exciting when they do occur. And Bruce Willis is really a supporting actor to Farrel - in fact, of the major characters, he probably has less screen time than anyone else, and is rarely seen outside of Farrel's perspective.

(Also, Americans seem to reject the idea that Nazis in an interrment camp could have had a shred of civility. Perhaps this film gave them a little too much credit - but I think that even as evil as they were, not all Nazis were inhuman brutes.)

The Good: So, the first thing you need to do is lay aside your expectation of a SAVING PRIVATE RYAN or GUNS OF NAVARONNE type movie. This is a drama! And it is a very good one. There are several layers to this story - one is that of Lt. Hart's (Colin Farrel) need for redemption after an early failure in the film. His assignment to defend the falsely accused marine gives him that chance. The main story is the trial of a marine who asserts he was framed for the murder of a fellow marine in the stockade. Farrel quickly learns that the cards are stacked against him as the presiding officer McNamara (Willis) seemse bent on a guilty verdict. This sets up some very tense confrontations between the two.

Adding a second layer to this drama is the apparently misunderstood character of the commanding Nazi officer Werner Visser. Visser represents an aging officer who has wound up in a remote post and seems to have accepted this lesser role. (Someone commented below that his "nice guy" attitude would not get him far in the German Army - ahem, well, I think that's the point - that's why he's watching over a camp rather than storming the frontlines!) He is a foil to Willis's McNamara, who wants nothing more than to get back to the war. The confusion as to why Visser suddenly wants to help Hart is that people perceive this as Visser suddenly becoming the nice Nazi. Well, anyone paying attention can see that Visser is ONLY motivated by getting back at McNamara. Hart is a convenient tool to do so - but there is not fondness for Hart from Visser, as you will see by the film's end.

The third layer is that of the racist motivation behind the original crime. Two of the confined officers are African-American, and they are portrayed in a very heroic light here - but the white enlisted men are very prejudiced to their presence (this is the 40s, remember). This gives ample opportunity to see racism as it truly is - these are fine outstanding officers, but their contributions are ignored by those who only see the color of their skin. Someone said below that the film portrayed the African-American soldiers as Spineless and hapless - I don't know what movie he saw, I think the film COMBATED this misconception!

Combining these three threads takes a skillful director, and Hoblit shows himself up to the task. The film never loses momentum, but switches nicely between the various threads. The writing is crisp, the cinematography is appropriately drab and dreary in its own beautiful way (love the light beams coming through the barrack windows) and the few actions scenes keep the excitement level high. All told, this is an excellent movie, and one I am proud to own - it's a shame more people will miss out on it because of the critics who didn't get it.

The Bad: That is not to say it is the perfect film. I did have a difficult time following alot of what was going on for the first hour, but near the end, when a plot twist was introduced, much of these scenes made more sense. Also, some of the dialogue was either poorly recorded, or poorly delivered. But, my main gripe was covered above about the misleading marketing of this film.

The Summation: Think of it as a combination of THE GREAT ESCAPE, A FEW GOOD MEN, and TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD - with the final sum being just a few notches below each of these titles, and you'll get an idea of what you're in for . . . give it a chance!

1 out of 5 stars

Awful! June 15, 2005
8 out of 24 found this review helpful

Saw "Hart's War" the other night and couldn't really believe anyone would invest money and time in a film as awful as this one. This film bombed at the box office and was yanked from circulation after only a few days. Here are ten reasons why:

1. This film isn't "The Great Escape" and even though he would probably like to think otherwise, Bruce Willis isn't Steve McQueen. Even though Willis received top billing, this is a Colin Farrell vehicle.

2. The vast majority of the target audience of 18-34 year old moviegoing males could care less about what happened during the Reagan administration, much less World War II. "Hart's War" may just as well be a film about a POW camp during the War of 1812. Anything with Vin Diesel or the Rock would be bound to sell more tickets.

3. As far as depicting life in a POW camp, "Hart's War" is pretty much on par with "Hogan's Heroes". The Germans are nice guys with guns who don't know very much and everyone gets away with just about anything. Where did the GI's get all those cigarettes, anyway?

4. Any Stalag Luft comandant worth his weight in sauerkraut would have just as soon killed the Bruce Willis character as look at him. As depicted in "Hart's War", the camp commandant (as portrayed by Marcel Lures) would have had a very difficult time maintaining any sort of status as an officer in the German Army. His collection of American jazz/blues records is a cute writer's invention that has nothing to do with the reality of the situation, or of the type of men who were in charge of German POW camps. In reality, the Marcel Lures character would probably have been relegated to another type of nazi camp with a pink triangle sewn on the front of his tunic.

5. The storyline is not completely unbelievable - trials did take place in POW camps, one good example being the POW's who were tried and hung in Andersonville; However, the whole idea that the camp's commandant would actively participate in such a trial as sort of a Jerry Springer type advocate is ludicrous.

6. The idea that during the trial, a group of POW's who escape go on a secret mission to destroy a nearby munitions factory is insulting. Not only did nothing like this ever happen during World War II, it degrades the bravery of those poor souls whose only act of heroism was to survive internment under harsh and sometimes brutal conditions. The German army simply wasn't that stupid.

7. I saw this film once and didn't like it. I thought that maybe the second time would be better. It wasn't.

8. Beyond being sheer Hollywood political correctness, "Hart's War" seriously misrepresents many of the more important aspects of internment. It ignores the real focus of life in such a Stalag which, for most POW's, was just day to day survival. Also, the soldiers who served in our armed forces during World War II and also happened to be African Americans weren't spineless, hapless dopes.

9. Bruce Willis playing the same role in variations of "Die Hard" over and over and over again is tiring.

10. Better films about the same sort of subject matter are "The Tuskeegee Airmen" and "Stalag 17". Hopefully in a few years, "Hart's War" will be completely forgotten, and these dvd's will be rotting in some landfill.

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