Hart’s War R1 DVD

Traveta reviews

Hart’s WarDistributed by
MGM

• Cert: R
• Cat.no: 1003589
• Running time: 125 minutes
• Year: 2002
• Pressing: 2002
• Region(s): 1, NTSC
• Chapters: 32
• Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 (Eng only)
• Languages: English, Spanish. French, Portuguese
• Subtitles: English, Spanish. French, Portuguese
• Disc Side A: Widescreen: 2.35:1
• Disc Side B: Fullscreen: 4:3
• 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
• Macrovision: No
• Disc Format: DVD 18
• Price: $26.98
• Extras: Commentary featuring Bruce Willis with writerand director, Commentary with the producer, deletedscenes with director commentary, photo gallery, andthe theatrical trailer.
  

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  Director:

  Gregory Hoblit

Screenplay:

Billy Ray and Terry George

Cast:

Col. William A. McNamara: Bruce Willis
Lt. Thomas W. Hart: Collin Farrel
Lt. Lincoln A. Scott: Terrence Dashon Howard
Col. Werner Visser: Marcel Lures

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Times are troubling for MGM.Their last hit was last year’s Legally Blonde and that was last July.They’re trying to sell the studio and the stocks arefalling Let’s run down the list of box office duds:Bandits,Rollerball (2002),Original Sin, Hart’s War and the recent Windtalkers.

Now Rollerball, Hart’s War and Windtalkers cost close to or over $100 milliondollars and neither failed to achieve box officesuccess. Rollerball was doomed by bad reviews, Hartjust didn’t generate much buzz, and Windtalkers wasput out after the surge of war movies. Neither werereally bad or anything (except Bandits and I haven’tseen Orignal Sin). One thing MGM is making a lot ofbank on is their VERY large DVD library. Most areclassic and priced at under ten dollars. To top thatoff you can count on a lot of extras on some if notall. They’re also saving money by not puttingMacrovision on them. They clearly understand the DVDmarket and are banking off of it. Anyway, I’m donereviewing MGM itself and now onto the real object ofthe review: Hart’s War.

Hart’s War has got to be one of the most deceivingfilms as of late. I only knew it was a courtroom dramafrom reviews but the film is marketed like it’s anaction film (take a look at how bad 3,000 Miles toGraceland did like this). The front cover shows BruceWillis with Colin Farrell standing in front of astorm of flames, bomber planes below them, andsoldiers running. Then the back does not even mentionthe trial that takes most of the movie. Who can blamethem really? Would you go see a WWII courtroom drama?

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Hart’s War tells the story of Lt. Thomas Hart’s timein a German POW camp. Hart is captured and brought tothe camp where he meets Bruce Willis’ character Col.McNamara. Halfway through a bigot white prisoner iskilled and a fellow black prisoner, Lt. Lincoln Scott,is wrongly accused. Hart is appointed to defend him ina trial that only has one outcome.

This film tries to come off as gripping and I willgive it that. It does have a few plot twists that Ididn’t see coming but that doesn’t make up for it’soverall blandness. It’s sometimes boring as well.Another thing that bothered me kind of was how theNazis were portrayed. I can’t imagine them letting theprisoners gamble and drink freely. The lead generalseemed too friendly to the prisoners at times and thatfelt awkward.

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Into the disc. The video is a little disappointingfor MGM especially since not many extras are included.Compression artifacts are seen throughout except forthe outdoor day scenes and there was just a softnessto the picture. Not terrible or anything but it couldhave been alot better.

The sound is okay though. Thundering during the fewaction scenes and audible throughout.

The extras are pithy really. Deleted scenes and atrailer are really all. But if you’re looking forcommentary you won’t be dissapointed. Two commentraytracks are on the movie and one with the deletedscenes.

Overall, Hart’s War is just okay. It is somewhatinteresting and at least worth a weekend rental justdon’t believe the box.

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FILM CONTENT
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS


OVERALLReview copyright © Traveta, 2002.

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