Ambush (1999)

Best movie of this year hands down!

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

AMBUSH – 1999 This well done Finnish war film takes place just after the start of the 1941 -44 Continuation War with the Soviet Union. Finland has attacked the U.S.S.R. in order to take back the territory lost in the earlier "Winter War" of 1940.The film follows a small group of Finnish bicycle-mounted infantry who are sent out to do a recon on a quiet sector of the front. The men are never sure if there are any Red Army troops waiting in ambush. They go through several abandoned villages and of course do meet up with Soviets.There is a side plot with the officer in charge running into his fiancé. She is a nurse at a forward aid station. He begs his commanding officer to send the woman to the rear areas.This is a very good looking film with the forests and lakes being used to good effect. The haunting score adds to the film's effect on the senses. While there are no massive battles here, there is more than enough action to keep the war film buff entertained.The film is well worth the time invested by the viewer.

I thought that this would finally be THE Finnish war film, but I guess I was wrong... Well, this ain't that bad, it just takes a few wrong turns. The biggest problems being a certain lack of "honesty" for example: what's that running tall in the woods when you got a zillion bullets flying! In a situation like that you stay the F. down! Now that, of course is not that heroic and exciting to watch, but that's what happened for real. And the problem with all Finnish movies is a serious lack of talent from the director. Every time I'm watching a Finnish war or an action movie I get this feeling of a guy shivering in the director's chair thinking "what am I goinna do next? what am I gonna do next? I hope they don't ask me 'cause I'm on a major director's block here!" so he bails out using something he's seen in an AMERICAN movie! So in the middle of serious situations we get these hilarious out-of-its-place-scenes like soldiers running in the woods dodging bullets. Or in "Talvisota", a punchline after a russian POW commits suicide with a grenade, or a Finnish soldier getting shot, spurting blood, still firing a short burst and then dying. Tsk, tsk, looks like we're only good at making comedy-dramas for young adults ("levottomat", "minä ja Morrison", "nousukausi"...)"Rukajärven tie" delivers, but it's only "okay". And if you consider the material... would PLEASE a major Hollywood-studio pick the Winter War and the Continuation War for a movie?? The situation is a gem (although not back then...): the odds for russians were like a 1.000 to 1 and in Winter war it was FREEEZING cold, down to minus 40 C! And talk about being in between a tree and a hard shell - we HAD to choose either Adolf's or Stalin's side.Just one thing- make it talky, with the eXtra dry Finnish humour.

You don't always have to find the largest, most massive, confrontation to make something impressive. The ones that portray a war without a real individual's perspective tend to get so removed from real life that they tend to glorify war.In real life war isn't a fast paced action flick. A movie made in Finland relies much more in its sense of "it could be real" then the average Hollywood product. Waiting is an essential, yet agonizing, part of war. When the action comes it can be over in 5 seconds. Waiting for that 5 sec is the definition of living on the edge. I enjoyed the tranquility of the earlier parts. In war, 10:1 odds in casualties are achieved by using the advantage when you have it. That means attacking from behind and taking out as many as you can before it's your turn. Yes it is cruel and brutal. Who said war is anything else?The movie is also visually beautiful and the soundtrack tends to amplify the beauty of the scenery, but does not go overboard obvious as is the case with some classical soundtracks. The film has an enjoyable atmosphere to it. However, I'm forced to admit that the actual events make it a bit hollow and somewhat popularistic. If you can get past the shell, which I would give maybe a 5, you can get to the core of it all. With the ambience and feel of it all, I'd give the movie's guts an 8. I'd rather grade it by that.If you are looking for an action flick for a friday night, this is not really it. Try maybe sunday.

I liked this movie more than I liked Saving Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line. For some reason it was able to capture better what the other movies were trying to capture. What I liked even more was that it was able to "cheat". Meaning it was able to make it look like there was a war going on with a few well taken shots and angles and sound effects, an inspiration for all aspiring filmmakers with no Hollywood money. =)