A Brilliant Conflict

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

I first watched "The Lost Battalion" in the early 2000s and had remembered it as being an excellent World War I film. After a recent viewing, however, I came to discover that this movie has not aged very well at all.For a basic plot summary, "Lost Battalion" tells the story of Major Charles Whittlesey (Rick Schroder), who finds his WWI battalion trapped behind enemy lines in the Argonne Forest of France, 1918, during the first World War. Despite being lied to by his commanding officers and under constant German pressure, Whittlesey must find a way to keep his men together and hold their ground until reinforcements can arrive.There are three easily-identifiable problems with "Lost Battalion" that prevent it from being a true cinematic classic:The first is just sheer production value. It was pretty good for A&E 20 years ago, but it has very much of a low-budget feel now. Perhaps if it were to be converted to Blu Ray that would help. I know that it can't help the time in which it was made, but because the characters aren't all that great (see below), it really has nothing else to stand on except visuals.Secondly, it really tries to copy "Saving Private Ryan" in terms of that battle scenes. Once again, I get it...that was the "thing to do" for war films of that era, but there's a reason "Ryan" lives on while others fade away. It's because that was a great all-around movie. Too many people just remember the Omaha Beach scenes and forget that it truly was a cinematic masterpiece. "Lost Battalion" needed to take a different direction to distinguish itself.Finally, the major problem with this film is that it doesn't spend nearly enough time (or any time, really), delving into character development or "bigger concept" issues. It is content to just kind of walk through the key events and only pay lip service to some great opportunities, like Schroder's character, the diversity of the platoon, and the potentially corruption of the upper military brass. All those concepts "get a look", so to speak, but only "a look". Nothing to really make you think or feel invested in the proceedings.Simply put, "The Lost Battalion" is very much a paint-by-numbers war action flick. It contains very little real drama...only relying on the tried and true "brutality of combat" trope to pull it through. In a post-"Private Ryan" cinematic environment, however, combined with low production values, that just isn't going to cut it anymore. I won't quite drop it down to a bottom- feeding 1 star, but I would give it 1.5 stars if able. It's a product of its times and very little else.

I will not comment on the facts or omissions or what actually happened versus what was portrayed. My comment is on the direction of the movie. The director appears to have learned his tricks of trade through reruns of "saving private Ryan" and "Band of Brothers". Where the camera work on those productions is superb and groundbreaking through the use of the first person perspective and excellent angles, in this production it feels contrite and jittery at best and gimmicky at worst. Wardrobe - obviously - took great pains to recreate the uniforms and equipment to great accuracy but the special effects department let down the whole visual experience with the acrobatic tumbles of the soldiers and the thriller style stunt work. The Ardenne shelling in "Band of Brothers" was nerve shattering and brought the terrible ordeal of the soldiers to the viewer in a way that is memorable. The attempt to recreate that effect here completely misses the mark.I'm afraid that the overall experience has not been pleasant and I kept wishing the director would stop trying to impress us and just tell the story.

I want to say the acting is bad, but I think it was the directing that made it so. I never thought much of Highlander (same director) but that one could be blamed on the 80s.This one however, has no excuses. People get shot while exiting trenches with a man in front of him!? Those kind of mistakes, along with an unclear time line, weird battle tactics, sub-par cutting and poor visual effects, makes this one a sub-par film over all.Then like so many other have commented, all this American bullshit. The German general being practically scared of his captured American private. Be prepared to swallow a lot of it, although in small doses.To sum it up, a not horrible but still definitely sub-par war movie in all aspects.

In 1918 in World War I, in the Meuse-Argonne Sector in France, the former New York lawyer and Major Charles White Whittlesey (Rick Schroder) is assigned by Gen. Robert Alexander (Michael Brandon) to a massive suicidal attack against the German forces in the Argonne Forest with his five hundred men battalion. However, the forces supposed to be giving support through the flanks retreat and the communications with the headquarter of the 77th American Division are cut. Major Wittlesey holds his position with his men, mostly Irish, Polish, Italian and Jew gangsters from New York, surrounded by the German army. Without food, water, ammunition and medical supplies, only two hundred men survive after five days of siege.Based on a true event, "The Lost Battalion" is a great tale of bravery and courage. I do not know how accurate the facts are displayed, but I liked this movie very much. The battle scenes are very gore and realistic, in a war of trenches and bayonets, and the actors have great performances, being impossible to highlight an individual acting. Just as a curiosity, this film does not have any actress, only men in the cast. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "O Último Batalhão" ("The Last Battalion")