Premise: WWII soldiers experience supernatural events in a German mansion they are occupying.
I wish this movie was less ambitious. The actual premise is enough. Not a lot of movies blend the horror and war genres even though they are a natural fit. I was relieved that they didn’t take the easy route of tying it to the Holocaust. It’s decent fun to see people who thought they were in one kind of movie turn out to be in another kind. That was enough movie for me. Then it adds that late twist about it all being a dream based on their experiences as Afghanistan war veterans. And they add the curse storyline on top of that. It all reads as a story written for the twist, and the twist isn’t that good.
It doesn’t help this movie that I recently finished rewatches of both Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers. It made Ghosts of War’s production design look especially shoddy. Granted, they could argue that’s the point. Brenton Thwaites, Skylar Astin, and the others don’t fit in the WWII setting or look like they’ve been through hell for months because it’s all a simulation. That’s fine by the end, but it means I’m spending the first 80 minutes watching this as a lazy and unconvincing WWII production. I have a low tolerance for “it’s supposed to look bad” arguments in movies.
Verdict: Weakly Don’t Recommend
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