Hart's War 2002

Glenn Lovell, San Jose Mercury News: [S]olid, old-fashioned entertainment in which everything is much larger than life and the plot elements slide into place with clockwork precision. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: If suiting up for Hart's War hardly constitutes patriotic duty, it's not a bad place to bivouac. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Unlike A Soldier's Story, which tackled the same theme within the confines of an engrossing, unpredictable story, too much of Hart's War feels like finger-wagging. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: ...it's not your typical war movie but I'm giving it thumbs down because I think its attempts to be different were quite frankly kind of ludicrous. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: ...a work of small pleasures that barely makes it under the wire intact. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: Katzenbach's book collapses into phoniness at the end, and the movie -- which alters that ending -- is even phonier. Read more

Elvis Mitchell, New York Times: War is a film that tries to excel on several levels and falls flat on all of them. Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: ...a sluggish courtroom potboiler about racism, murder and due process. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: [S]turdy if uninspired... Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Worth a salute just for trying to be more complex than your average film. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: [T]he film throws so many twists and surprises at us that it becomes unconvincing. Read more

Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle: Teetering toward preaching, the film says much about courage, honor, duty and sacrifice, traits common enough in many World War II stories. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: A grimly competent and stolid and earnest military courtroom drama. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: Hart's War, in trying to please everyone, delivers a doubly exasperating blend of liberal and conservative pandering, both a self-congratulatory acknowledgment of historical racism and an affirmation that American patriotism excuses all sins. Read more

Peter Rainer, New York Magazine/Vulture: We're situated in that familiar showbiz intersection of Hollywood and Rhine. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: This is one of those war movies that focuses on human interaction rather than battle and action sequences ... and it's all the stronger because of it. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The movie worked for me right up to the final scene, and then it caved in. Read more

Charles Taylor, Salon.com: Put Bruce Willis and this bewildering World War II movie in front of the firing line. Read more

Carla Meyer, San Francisco Chronicle: Hart's War contains a fatal structural flaw. A racially charged court-martial that takes up half the picture turns out to be a just a cover. Read more

Jeff Strickler, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Reaches for more than it can handle, but it's well-acted and earnest in its intentions. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: As an actor's showcase, Hart's War has much to recommend it, even if the top-billed Willis is not the most impressive player. As a story of dramatic enlightenment, the screenplay by Billy Ray and Terry George leaves something to be desired. Read more

Derek Adams, Time Out: This earnest WWII escape story throws in a courtroom drama, but to nobody's advantage. Read more

Mike Clark, USA Today: An earnest racial-issues picture that might have gotten respectful critical praise in a different era -- say, the '60s. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: Read more

Justine Elias, Village Voice: The movie gets muted and routine. Read more

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: More or less self-destructs in a ridiculous last few minutes when it becomes a noble sacrifice-o-rama. Read more