Brother's War (2009)

Really Surprised!

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Gifted director Jerry Buteyn brings to screen an epic Second World War drama that manages to breathe new life into films of this sort. Stunning panoramas of terrific battles are amazing in their intensity and realistically staged, highlighted by a magnificent music score. Careful attention has been paid to uniforms and weapons, with extreme care taken with historical detail. Some of the battle sequences, especially those involving armor and aircraft, are especially breathtaking. Yet, despite being a large scale film, it is indeed the very human aspects of the superb screenplay that holds everything together. A fine cast brings life to characters who are quite real in their humanity and struggling to face incredible challenges for the sake of all they hold dear. The performance of the great Michael Berryman as a Soviet officer is one of his best in years. With tremendous scope and special effects but retaining a focus on the humanity involved, this is one of the finest WWII films of the past decade.

I am a big fan of war movies but this one is a complete waste of time. Even though I saw how bad of a review it got, I checked it out anyway to see if it lived up to the poor rating. Needless to say, it did. The acting was horrible. There was a scene where a German soldier slaps a guy and it was so fake, it was almost in slow motion. I understand this was a low budget film but that's no excuse. There are many films that were low budget that became successful like Rocky, Juno, Slumdog Millionaire, The Blair Witch Project, Bruce Lee's "Enter The Dragon", and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. This film makes no effort at keeping viewers on the edge of their seats. Rather, it makes them fall asleep in their chair.

Where do I even begin? The plot jumps from character to character without any explanation of what is happening in the background. The "German" soldiers are 100% American, and do not even attempt a German accent. the main British soldiers also switch in and out of fake British accents. The main German characters are using Russian issued weapons. When people get shot,miraculously, they do not bleed. In fact, when most weapons are shot, you can tell that the sound and flash were added afterward, and the actors are just faking the kick. Some of the super-close up shots are filmed with blanks, but the majority of it is CGI. 2 men will hide behind a tree as big as my leg, and fight off an entire platoon...magically, there are no bullet holes in the tree. As far as acting goes, it goes from bad to worse as soon as the first scene is over. I love corny movies and bad acting, but it gets to a point where it's just too bad for words. I watched 3 chapters of this movie, and couldn't take it...I skipped forward to each chapter and tried to watch a little bit of each one,but it just kept getting worse. PLEASE do not waste your time!!!!

I would say this is the absolute WORST movie I have ever seen, except that I couldn't stand to finish it...I quit watching after 53 minutes. The plot is all disjointed, the actors are TERRIBLE (with the slightly possible exception of the main German character, I would be shocked if his career isn't ruined by this dud), the dialog is horrendous, etc...etc...I think the most laughable part of all is when one of the soldiers says "My English isn't so good" (even though he speaks his entire dialog in the movie in English). DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY ON THIS "MOVIE"...it is dreadful. The next night, I rented "Valkyrie" and while I was skeptical going in, I came out with the opinion that THAT movie is awesome.