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Hart's War

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 32 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 11 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by:
Billy Ray
Terry George
John Katzenbach (novel)
Directed by: Gregory Hoblit
Release Date:
Theatrical: February 15, 2002
DVD: July 9, 2002
Running Time: 125 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: R for some strong war violence and language
Starring Bruce Willis, Colin Farrell, Terrence Dashon Howard, Vicellous Reon Shannon, Cole Hauser, Rory Cochrane, Rick Ravanello, and Marcel Iures
Set in a Nazi prisoner of war camp, Lt. Tommy Hart (Farrell), a Harvard law student before enlisting, is assigned by top ranking Colonel William McNamara (Willis) to defend an African-American airman (Howard) accused of murder in a camp trial held by his fellow American prisoners.
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Fracture Frequency Primal Fear
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
ReelViews James Berardinelli
Works uncommonly well because of the effective manner in which it blends together its various elements: the WW2 prison camp setting, the courtroom aspects, and the issues of honor, racism, and redemption.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Jay Carr
Reminds us that the human dynamic can do a lot that explosions can't, even when the film flirts with formula.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
A solid piece of storytelling that doesn't pander, skips the usual POW stereotypes and allows the film to work reasonably well as an epic of war, a survival story, a prison thriller, a murder mystery and a courtroom drama.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
The lack of attacks lets us concentrate on emotions rather than explosions.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
The plot is canny, but it would be little more than an ingenious springloaded device were it not for the performances by Howard and Iures.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The movie worked for me right up to the final scene, and then it caved in.
Read Full Review >Newsweek David Ansen
Gets too earnest for its own good. But Billy Ray and Terry Georges screenplay, taken from a John Katzenbach novel, is expertly plotted.
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
It may seem harmless, to some, that our movies have never entirely abandoned the land of Poitier-ville, but as Hart's War demonstrates, it's an insult that they haven't.
Read Full Review >New York Post Jonathan Foreman
Quickly morphs into a messy double message movie with motifs and clichés lifted from military courtroom films like "A Soldier's Story" and "A Few Good Men."
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
Just because a movie was inspired by real life and has good intentions doesn't mean it can't wind up as phony as a three-dollar bill.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Could have been a contender, but it lacks the courage of its own ambivalence.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector
A mildly psychological suspense thriller with military trappings.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Ella Taylor
A decent thriller trying to overcome a rather preposterous premise.
Read Full Review >Variety Todd McCarthy
Absorbing in a low-key way but more dramatic where its secondary characters are concerned than its leads, and capped by climactic incidents that are less than entirely convincing.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
In its amalgam of classic Hollywood war movies and courtroom dramas, Hart's War takes the audience to a place that never existed in order to teach it a lesson it already knows.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
Follows all these rules, which is why you'll get the enjoyable basic minimum. But not a whit more.
Read Full Review >New Times (L.A.) Robert Wilonsky
Ultimately, Hart's War can't decide what it is: treatise on racism, escape (and escapist) thriller or murder mystery. So it sits there -- and we sit there with it, waiting and waiting. And waiting.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
Despite its admirable sobriety for most of its running time, the film's climax is a parade of ludicrous clichés.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
Having seen the TV series "Hogan's Heroes," we already know that a German prisoner of war camp can be cartooned; Hart's War goes further as a cartoon that takes itself seriously.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
The movie's exploration of prejudice within the military is certainly on target, but it's presented with all the finesse of a classroom civics lesson.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jami Bernard
Hart's War has its priorities clear, but delivers them with insulting simplicity.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Stephen Hunter
It more or less self-destructs in a ridiculous last few minutes when it becomes a noble sacrifice-o-rama.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Director Gregory Hoblit ("Primal Fear") is merely arranging cliches in new patterns until the surprise ending blows enough pro-military fervor up the audience's ass to make Colin Powell call a halt.
Read Full Review >New York Magazine Peter Rainer
A movie like Hart's War, for all its realistic trappings, is essentially escapism. And yet it inadvertently pushes the 9/11 button. The real world is going to intrude a lot this year at the movies. Better get used to it.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
Less fascinating and finally unsatisfying is the awfully familiar racism angle, a subplot that, though unusual in a POW movie, turns regrettably earnest and preachy almost immediately.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
If glum were good and bleak were best, Hart's War would be a standout.
Salon.com Charles Taylor
Put Bruce Willis and this bewildering World War II movie in front of the firing line.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
Wants to be everything and adds up to nothing. "War" is a film that tries to excel on several levels and falls flat on all of them.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.8 (out of 10) based on 11 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Frank O. gave it a5:
Disappointed in this film, the book by John Katzenbach was so much better in terms of tension and suspense. Willis was good, first time I noticed Terrance Howard who I enjoy as an actor. Way too long.
Tony B. gave it an8:
What a shame that this fine film was not recognized by the critics or promoted effectively by MGM.
Jason P. gave it a 10:
Awesome movie. well reasearched and developed. colin farell is an amazing actor.
Nikki S. gave it a 10:
Greatest Movie.
Rachel K. gave it a 10:
This was one of the best movies I have seen in a long time. I enjoyed it throughly.
Omar T. gave it a 7:
Surprise!!! Amazing and classic film. Farrell is a great actor.
Michael F. gave it a 6:
Starts off great but gets worse and worse. The movie brings up some good points and acually becomes a quite engrossing court-room drama. Then the whole honor thing and the actor who plays the defendant has some horrible writing to go with his character. Willis gave a fine, nothing special, performance. But Farrel is great, as usual. It just gets silly. Not great writing.
