Hart’s War (2002)
(In theaters, February 2002) Everyone’s got their favourite movie genres, and if yours happen to be prison films, war adventure or courtroom drama (or better yet, all three), you’ll love Hart’s War, a derivative thriller that pulls many different familiar elements in a satisfying whole. After our protagonist is captured by the Germans late in World War 2, he’s thrown in Stalag 6, a Prisoner-of-War camp where it doesn’t take five minute for him to make an enemy out of the highest-ranking American officer. What follows is a prison film, a murder mystery, a courtroom drama and a war movie, in this order. It’s all very convenient, but it flows well and entertains a lot. Colin Farrell continues to impress with a sympathetic -but flawed- protagonist, and Bruce Willis is completely comfortable in a role highly reminiscent of his character in The Siege. Director Gregory Hoblit turns out another fine film (after 2000’s Frequency), with a good mix of crowd-pleasing elements. I could have done without the unsubtle anti-racism preaching when it wasn’t required, but I was also generally swept by the rest of the film, warts and all. Good entertainment; solid and pleasant.