Hart's War

Misleadingly pitched as ‘Die Hard in a POW camp’ thanks to the presence of Bruce Willis, Hart’s War is actually a thoughtful if undeniably plodding drama, directed in characteristically unhurried fashion by veteran TV director Gregory Hoblit (Hill Street Blues, NYPD Blue). Farrell stars as Lieutenant Hart, a green young GI in a Nazi POW camp at the tail-end of World War II, who gets called upon to defend a black airman accused of killing a fellow prisoner. Nowhere near as politically repugnant as much of Hollywood’s very recent war-flick output, Hart’s War never attempts to depict army life as a matter of sweetness and light: it implies, and condemns, the existence of institutional racism in the ranks, which very few such movies generally dare to attempt.

Where the film falls down is as pure entertainment – simply, there just isn’t enough going on. Its insanely lengthy 125-minute duration does little to enhance its enjoyability, and Bruce Willis is in markedly subdued, uninspired form as the Colonel McNamara, lacking the gravitas required by the role. Farrell doesn’t let the side down at all, but it’s impossible to figure out exactly where the supposed appeal of Hart’s War lies: this is too quiet and subtle to pull in the Stars-and-Stripes-and-Guns crowd, but hardly aimed at people desirous of anything cerebral or challenging.

Very dull, for all its small virtues.