Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24624 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-10-14
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English, German
• Subtitled in: English, Czech, Danish, Finnish, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 120 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Hart's War is a serious, well-intentioned Second World War drama. It's finally unconvincing, but it will go down in the history books as marking future superstar Colin Farrell's first leading role in a major studio picture. It's late 1944 and Lieutenant Hart (Farrell) ends up in a POW camp where the senior American officer, Colonel McNamara (Bruce Willis), takes an instant dislike to him. When a black American officer, Lt Scott (Terrence Howard), is accused of murder, the commandant allows McNamara to conduct a politically motivated trial. Hart is made the defence attorney, but may be no more than a pawn to further McNamara's own agenda.

In a film that chooses the ironic setting of a Nazi prison camp to examine racism in the American military, none of the characters are black or white, and in the tradition of The Shawshank Redemption there is more going on beneath the surface than meets the eye. Unfortunately, while Hart's War is extremely well made, various small plot holes and contrivances mean that ultimately it fails to ring true--a problem exacerbated by an over-earnest tendency to preach in key scenes. Nevertheless, Willis gives one of his best, most understated performances and Farrell, who went straight from this to Minority Report, delivers a truly star-making turn.

On the DVD: Hart's War comes to DVD with a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack that's fine for a dialogue-driven film, while the anamorphically enhanced 2.35:1 transfer is virtually flawless. Ten deleted scenes are presented with the same excellent picture quality and optional commentary by director Gregory Hoblit. There is a four-part photo gallery, the deceptive theatrical trailer and two commentaries. Producer David Foster offers some interesting information, but also a lot of generalities and silence. Bruce Willis contributes virtually nothing, but Hoblit and writer Billy Ray engage in a frank discussion of many of the flaws in the film and the problems they never solved. The wartime history they recount and the cuts they made suggest that a better film was sacrificed to tell a commercial story in two hours. --Gary S. Dalkin

Special Features
2.35 Wide Screen
16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
DVD 9
Czech
English
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital Czech English
Dolby Digital 5.1
Audio Commentary With Bruce Willis And Director Gregory Hoblit And Writer Billy Ray
Audio Commentary With Producer David Foster
Deleted Scenes With Directors Commentary
Photo Gallery
Original Theatrical Trailer
Czech\Danish\English\Finnish\Greek\Hebrew\Hungarian\Norwegian\Polish\Portuguese\Swedish

Synopsis
Director Gregory Hoblit's debut feature was the tricky courtroom drama PRIMAL FEAR. With his fourth feature, HART'S WAR, Hoblit is back with another. This time the court is inside a WWII prisoner-of-war camp. The defendant is Lieutenant Lincoln Scott (Terrence Howard), a black officer accused of killing a racist sergeant (Cole Hauser). Scott lawyer is Lieutenant Tommy Hart (Colin Farrell), a second-year law student at Yale. A U.S. senator's son, Hart was having a relatively easy war until he was captured, interrogated, and sent to Stalag VI. The camp commandant is the urbane, charming, and ruthless SS Major Visser (compellingly played by Rumanian actor Marcel Iures). The ranking American officer at the camp is Colonel William McNamara (Bruce Willis), and Hart is soon in conflict with him. When Scott is accused of murder, McNamara insists that the prisoners should hold a court martial, and he appoints Hart counsel for the defense. At the court martial, Hart finds his client is being railroaded, although he gets help from unexpected quarters. Intricately plotted by scriptwriters Billy Ray and Terry George, and filmed by Hoblit with his accustomed attention to detail, HART'S WAR is a devious and absorbing courtroom/POW drama.

Customer Reviews

A really cleaver film that is not all that it appears to be
I really enjoyed this film, at first this is a war film, soon after we are transported to a POW camp during world war II, then with the addition of a couple of black US officers this turns into a racial film (only a small part of the film in some ways, but it plays a major role too), then into a courtroom drama, but all is not as it appears to be, there are some good twists and turns from hereon out.

I've read that a fellow reviewer found the courtroom part of this film a bit strung out, there is a very good reason why this is the case, I can't say why as this is THE major twist/surprise in the film.

Good turns from Bruce Willis, Marcel Lures and Terrence Howard, but the star of the film has to be Colin Farrell who puts in a fine performance, this film has a good atmosphere to it, looks very realistic, maybe the courtroom part could have been more powerful than it is, it goes along at a steady pace, but if it's action you want/expect then you'll be disappointed it's just not that kind of film, that said there are some good action parts, but only a few and they only play a very small part.

This film surprised me just how good it is, for some reason Amazon have said that there are plot holes in this film, I've no idea where as I understood the film perfectly well and by the end of the film everything comes together nicely, well worth taking a look, a good solid film.

Hart's War
This movie had so much potential. A great cast and overall a pretty good plot. Unfortunately, it's a long time in getting to the main part of the film and by that point your already waiting for it to end. There are just too many unrealistic scenes...the most notable being Colin Farrell's ability to dodge about 50 bullets when he is the only close range target for a group of German fighters.

Colin Farrell is Lt. Hart who is the son of a senator, the reason he has managed to escape seeing the front lines of WW2. However, while travelling between 2 bases he is captured by the Germans who are aware of his role in the military and want info from him. Eventually he is sent to a prisoner camp as a POW.

Bruce Willis as the highest ranking prisoner (Col.)rules the roost taking orders only from the man who runs the prison. He takes a dislike to Lt Hart and has him bunk with the 'regular' soldiers even though he is of rank.

Some time later more prisoners arrive and the Col and his men are surprised to learn that the US air force has resorted to recruiting men of colour. The two new airmen are put into Lt Harts barracks and are treated as outcasts. One ends up being killed by the Germans and the other accused of killing a White American sergeant.
Lt Hart is appointed as his defence lawyer as he was in law school when the war started and has some knowledge of the goings on in a court room. However, its hard for him to know who his friends are and whether he should trust the Germans more than his own countrymen.

The court case is the most interesting part of this film as the who-dunnit and why is very intriguing and will keep you guessing.

Dont pay money to see this..watch it on tele or nick it off of a friend..

Not what youd expect
when i bought this dvd, i expected a willis action movie but based in world war two. This was not the case, the backdrop to the movie is world war 2, but the main focus is the relationships of people within a POW camp, which escalates to a US military court marshal played out by the key players in the film. An excellent film, but more like 'A Few Good Men' rather than the 'Great Escape'.