A wounded American soldier is trapped behind German lines during the Battle of the Bulge.
Chuck says:
In both execution and intent, Rod Lurie’s “Lucky Strike” is the sort of film that would have been made during World War II. A piece of propaganda lost in the time stream, the movie is a shameless pastiche of tropes from numerous other combat features, their inclusion seemingly mandatory. Loosely based on a true story, “Strike” has a rote feel to it, as if each scene was shot with little in the way of inspiration but rather done in a perfunctory manner, as if they were items being checked off a “To Do” list.
A clumsy prologue kicks things off, as Captain Castle (Scott Eastwood) pays a visit to the modest home of Mrs. Caldwell (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor), who provides an icy reception to the nervous soldier. An awkward conversation does little to explain how these two are connected, though mention is made of Caldwell being bitter over not having been given a pension she feels she’s owed. It’s suggested Castle may be able to help with this matter.
A flashback occurs that takes us to Belgium on the eve of the Battle of the Bulge, a German counteroffensive launched at the end of 1944. Castle and his men are charged by Colonel Neale (Colin Hanks) to impede the advance of a German tank division by dynamiting a key bridge on their route. His squad is a typical mixture of races and creeds, the all-inclusive diversity of the bunch intended to, obviously, reflect the eclectic population of the United States. Not much screen time is given to any of them, indicating they’re all soon killed by enemy fire.
When this happens, Castle finds himself behind enemy lines, facing the prospect of walking nearly 40 miles in winter weather to the closest rendezvous point. With only a radio, the Motorola SCR-300 it is specifically noted, he struggles along, trying to keep out of sight of the seemingly omnipresent Nazis, barely escaping their gunfire when he cannot.
It’s all pretty standard stuff, the movie flirting with tedium over its 100-minute running time. The action scenes are capably rendered though hardly inspired, one blurring into another. However, the film comes alive when Castle takes refuge in a barn and is taken in by the French family that owns it. The language barrier that exists between them creates genuine tension as a patrol of bad guys approach. Eastwood rises to the occasion in conveying his character’s sense of confusion and fear as do his three co-stars Laurent Maurel, Hazel Rogers and Caroline Piette, as the family under siege. That the scene has an impact at its conclusion is due to the fine work by all.
Unfortunately, the movie never captures that sense of urgency again. With the ending a foregone conclusion, Lurie and his co-writer Marc Frydman paint themselves into a corner, though others filmmakers have succeeded in creating tension under similar circumstances. To their credit, location shooting in Bulgaria lends the film a sense of realism that’s welcomed, while other elements of the production design contribute to creating a realistic wartime milieu.
Eastwood, still struggling with being too self-conscious, is certainly good-looking enough for leading man status, yet lacks the presence to hold our attention throughout. Meanwhile, the explanation of the film’s prologue at its conclusion is anti-climactic, coming off as something of an afterthought. In the end, its distinct lack of urgency, makes “Lucky Strike” an instantly forgettable movie, one that fails to live up to its noble intentions.
2 1/2 Stars
