Hart's War (2002)
Film:
DVD:

Directed by Gregory Hoblit
Written by Terry George & Billy Ray, based on the novel by John Katzenbach
Starring Bruce Willis, Colin Farrell, Terrence Howard, Cole Hauser, Marcel Iures

Features:

• Running audio commentary with director Hoblit, writer Ray and actor Willis
  
• Running audio commentary with producer David Foster
  
• Deleted scenes with commentary by Hoblit
  
• Photo gallery
  
• Theatrical trailer
  

Anamorphic: No.

My Advice: Rent It.

It's World War II. It's Europe. Lt. Thomas Hart (Farrell), in his civilian life a law student, has a post that keeps him more or less out of harm's way, because he's the son of a U.S. Senator. When he finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time, he's captured and sent to a POW camp. If that wasn't bad enough, he then finds himself in the middle of a large scale game of chess between the leader of the American prisoners, Col. McNamara (Willis) and the German kommandant Major Vasser (Iures). When a prisoner is murdered by a black air force officer (Howard), Hart gets tapped to defend the accused in a trial...whether he wants to or not.

This is an entertaining film. It's unfortunate that the major point behind the film was given away in the trailers, because it's a revelation that only occurs about twenty minutes from the end--so that royally sucks. Getting there, though, it's easy to put it out of your mind. The events leading up to the POW camp setting are quite interesting, and feature probably the most heinous crashing of a Jeep I've ever witnessed.

On the acting front, everyone does well. Farrell shows why he's managed to get cast in half the movies coming out these days (or at least it seems that way). Willis seems to be playing a variation of the Tight-Ass Military Guy _TM he perfected in The Siege and does well enough, but brings little than that archetype to the table. Stand out of the film, though, would have to be Terrence Howard. The fact he's able to take such on-the-nose speeches and make them sound like a human being would actually say them is a testament to his acting abilities.

But really, that's the summation of the problems with the film right there. Instead of being contented with creating a courtroom drama in a very novel setting, the filmmakers seem to desperately want to Make a Point and Mean Something. Hence, a lot of dialogue that tries way too hard. And whenever you have closing narration to Drive Something Home, you can easily tip the scales into the realm of nausea--which, unfortunately, the film does.

The DVD presentation here sounds actually pretty choice on the surface. Anyone who's read more than a handful of my DVD reviews knows I am a sucker for commentaries. And when you put more than one on a disc--heaven. Rock on. Wait, though. They have to be good commentaries. The first track does give some insight into the film from Hoblit and Ray, although it literally sounds like Willis was cornered by an intern in a hallway and asked to talk for about ten minutes--which was then spliced into his contribution to the track. This would be fine, but Willis' comments are so few and far between--and some key scenes involving his character get no comments at all--that it's ultimately disappointing and almost disingenuous. The track with producer Foster is pretty much a waste of time. Although he does have a few interesting points to make, he spends most of his time alternately praising the film and the actors and relating personal anecdotes. It makes me wonder why he had his own track at all.

The other main feature are the deleted scenes (ten in all), complete with director's commentary. Although you get a pretty wide array of scenes and the comments do give insight as to why they were left out, it's pretty much another collection of, "Yup, makes sense to cut those" as we see all the time.

All in all, the movie is a good solid rental on its own. Only those who really love the film should stop and explore the special features, but I guess we should give MGM points for trying.