THE PLOT THUS FAR
Action-packed British thriller based on the real-life events of Ian Fleming’s 30 Commando during World War II – the template for the modern day SAS. Sean Bean and Danny Dyer star in an adrenalin-fuelled action-adventure which takes our heroes from the edge of defeat on the beaches of Dunkirk to the mountains of Norway on a search-and-destroy mission behind enemy lines that, if successful, would change the course of the war.
WHAT WE THOUGHT
In 1940, Major Jones (Sean Bean) is assigned to team up an 8-men commando to travel to Norway with the specialist Roger Rollright (John Dagleish) to meet the agent Beowulf and destroy the German Freyo Station and steal the German state-of-art technology of Radio Direction Finding (RDF) in the Operation Grendel. Jones travels to the Dashwood Military Prison to bring the soldier Brightling (Stephen Walters) and he brings also the insubordinate Corporal Bob Rains (Danny Dyer); then the commando heads to Scotland to be trained. When they fly to Norway, they are discovered and the plane crashes. Six members of the military unit and the specialist survive to the attack. When they accomplish their assignment, the naval pickup is not possible and the survivors without supply and little ammunition need to walk to Switzerland in a dangerous journey through a land occupied by German forces.
There are whole sections of this film that seem to be missing in the final cut which make things a little rushed and not to mention confusing. During the training sequence of the film Dyer’s character is punished for being a good marksmen and subsequently told that if he had failed in his training and was being sent back to the stockade. ‘Why?’ you are left asking as there has seemingly been no cause for to be necessary as we haven’t seen Dyer misbehave, be rude to anyone or fail any training task he has been given.
The Blu-Ray comes with a documentary, interviews, deleted scenes and bloopers. The A/V Quality boasts a strong 1080p transfer, but you get a rather lossy DTS-HD 5.1 master audio track. All of the special features are in DD 5.1/stereo, but you couldn’t tell the difference when you compare it to the main feature. Still, it’s a fun flick about a little known time in early WWII history. In the end, I’d recommend a purchase.
RELEASE DATE: 01/17/2012
