Warhunt

  I usually find horror movies set in World War 2 fun, but this one's mostly a miss. When a plane goes down somewhere in occupied Europe (if they mentioned where, I missed it), a squad of GIs is sent to look for its critical cargo.

 Mickey Rourke plays one Major Johnson who forces his own soldier (Jackson Rathbone) as an additional member. The Major rocks a shiny eyepatch and a cane, which seems like a bit much, but everything about Rourke in this movie is a lot much, to be honest.

 Despite some incredibly cheesy title credits, bad acting and some very stilted dialogue that goes overboard in trying to sound badass, there film shows some promise early on; the photography is fine, with some striking shots, and an early shootout is fun, mostly because of the use of physical squibs detonating everywhere.

 But the rest of the action is deeply mediocre and the plot goes nowhere quickly. The soldiers almost immediately discover that it's impossible to find their way in the forest, and soon after start getting whittled down both by physical attacks and pretty basic mind tricks from some unnatural force. Meanwhile, the action keeps cutting to a command centre somewhere where Rourke and some completely unnecessary characters provide some deeply irrelevant exposition. There are some good bits, but the disjointed narrative and poor plotting make getting to them feel like a bit of a chore.
 It all does leads to an action-packed climax; Unfortunately, it's so poorly shot that it finishes undoing what little goodwill director Mauro Borrelli had managed to accrue up to that point.

 The whole thing - laughable CGI, Rourke's involvement*, poorly put together script, the multiple production companies involved - make the whole thing feel deeply like a direct to video project, but Lionsgate somehow saw it fit to distribute it. The whole thing is not without some charm, but unless you're truly desperate for some WW2-set horror you're probably best off avoiding this one.

 

*: To be fair, Rourke is not half-assing it. Sure, he does sit out most of the movie in a separate set, but he ends up doing a fair bit more than most 'prestige' name actors do when they're slumming like this. Let's say three quarters-assing it.