So much average

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

In 1944 Belgium, during World War II, handsome American lieutenant Colin Farrell (as Thomas "Tom" Hart) is captured by the Nazis and sent to a German Prisoner of War (POW) camp. He is a US Senator's son and Yale law student; this was not supposed to happen. After some hairy distractions, Mr. Farrell ends up in Stalag 6A. He meets the prisoners' hard-nosed leader Bruce Willis (as William A. McNamara), who puts Lt. Farrell in a less than worthy barracks; it's one for enlisted men, not officers. The demotion is likely because Col. Willis knows Farrell lied to him about not cracking under German interrogation. Next, two additional men arrive at Stalag 6A. These men cause racial tension among the POWs...The conflict centers on Terrence Howard (as Lincoln A. Scott) and Cole Hauser (as "Vic" W. Bedford). A Tuskegee pilot, the former becomes an accused black man; the latter is his white racist enemy. These men perform their supporting roles very well. However, the most memorable characterization is given by Marcel Iures (as Werner Visser). As the Nazi leader, Mr. Iures has the meatiest role. He was educated in the west (Yale, again), served in World War I and plays American jazz phonograph records. That background connects everyone...The main star, Farrell employs his Yale studies to defend Mr. Howard. The main co-star, Willis looks steely and determined. Director Gregory Hoblit and cinematographer Alar Kivilo make "Hart's War" a fine looking film, especially during the first half. But we should not guess the big revelation before Farrell, who seems like a fairly smart guy, and the ending is most unsatisfactory.****** Hart's War (2/15/02) Gregory Hoblit ~ Colin Farrell, Bruce Willis, Marcel Iures, Terrence Howard

RELEASED IN 2002 and directed by Gregory Hoblit, "Hart's War" is a war flick about a paper-pushing lieutenant with a background in law (Colin Farrell) who is unexpectedly captured in Belgium and taken to a POW camp in southern Germany in the closing months of the European theater of the war. He eventually befriends and defends a Tuskegee Airmen (Terrence Howard). Marcel Iures plays the humane German commandant while Bruce Willis plays the tough-as-nails American colonel of the POWs. Cole Hauser is on hand as a racist soldier. This is obviously not a conventional WWII flick. Although it starts out with some great war action, it has more in common with films like "Stalag 17" (1953) and "The Great Escape" (1963), albeit with modern filmmaking craft. As my title blurb points out, it's reminiscent of Hogan's Heroes but without the comedy, plus elements of "A Few Good Men" (1992). The film isn't really about survival in the POW camp, but rather the tensions of the prisoners and the criminal drama.Some have complained that no fascist camp colonel in his right mind would allow such a trial as depicted in the movie. But there are several reasons why the commandant would allow it: (1.) for entertainment, (2.) to witness and understand the American way, (3.) he knew the war would be over soon and wanted to have the Allie's favor, or (4.) a mixture of the above. Keep in mind that the commandant went to school in the US after the first world war so he was enamored by American lifestyle and had a fondness for jazz. I'm sure entertainment was a huge factor since POW camp life is just as boring for the captors as it is for the captives over time.The climax telegraphs that this is a war MOVIE and not real life, but it's packed with action and gripping drama. It's also ultimately quite moving. Although it failed at the box office, "Hart's War" is a very good WWII POW camp movie and, in some ways, great.THE FILM RUNS 125 minutes and was shot in the Czech Republic.GRADE: B+/A-

To me the movie was average, probably because I don't find it so mind shattering that it pictures racism in the US military during WW2. It was there, that is an accepted historic fact so I do not think the film should win too much praise for "boldly going where no one has gone before". The plot was OK in the beginning but after the first 30 minutes it started to become less and less believable. The life in the camp is unreal, the Germans, the German colonel, etc.The culmination comes (and there I agree with the critic) at the end when all of a sudden almost everybody is competing in order to be the first to be executed, to die as a hero. Then Bruce Willis suddenly returns in a sudden change of mind, just in time to save everybody by getting executed himself... Nonsense, this just doesn't happen.

I knew the leading actor, that this was a war film, and how many stars the critics gave it, but it was up to me to try it, from director Gregory Hoblit (Frequency, Untraceable). Set in World War II, law student Lt. Thomas W. Hart (Colin Farrell) is captured by the Germans after a battle and put in a German Stalag Prison camp. He joins many other POWs (Prisoner of War), including the troops led by Col. William A. McNamara (Bruce Willis), quietly waiting to pounce on the enemy, and escape the camp. Soon the soldiers are joined by two African American pilots who from a crashed plane, Lt. Lincoln A. Scott (Terrence Howard) and Lt. Lamar T. Archer (Vicellous Reon Shannon), and the other take an instant racist dislike. In the middle of the night, Archer is murdered, giving McNamara the chance to get his plans in motion, but obviously Hart wants to find the man guilty. When Scott is accused of the murder, Hart demands a court case to both find him innocent and prove it was a white man responsible. Of course Hart doesn't realise the murder is a cover up to get an escape under way, and when McNamara is discovered as the murderer, it is hard to end the case. But in the end, the escape plan is discovered, and Col. Werner Visser (Marcel Iures) holds McNamara fully responsible, which of course he is, and allows himself to get shot, Scott is found innocent, and of course three months later the war ends. Also starring Cole Hauser as Staff Sgt. Vic W. Bedford, Linus Roache as Capt. Peter A. Ross, Rory Cochrane as Sgt. Carl S. Webb and Michael Weston as Pfc. W. Roy Potts. I can see what the critics mean with Willis not being used enough, Farrell makes a reasonable lead with his not too bad American accent, and Iures gets his moments as the German Lt., it's not a brilliant war film, but you can try it if you want to. Worth watching, at least once!