Lucky Strike
- 5 minutes ago
- 3 min read
There are moments in LUCKY STRIKE in which Scott Eastwood looks so much like Clint, it's like watching outtakes from "Where Eagles Dare". But this is no Eagles. Dull and boring, it strands the younger Eastwood in a survival story only occasionally lifted by the WW2 action around it.
After a poorly acted opening war set sequence distinguished only by some decent drone photography, the film lumbers into its clumsy story framing device. We meet a post war US Army Captain John Castle (Eastwood) working for an insurance company (I guess, its all muddled at first) and meeting with the Mom of a fallen soldier. This allows the film to then flashback to Castle's experience in the Battle of the Bulge.
We're told he stayed when he could have gone home, but the dramatics of that are barely explored. He and his team are sent off by Colonel Neals (Colin Hanks making a cameo to bolster the cast list) on a mission to fell trees on a forest road to block a line of Nazi Panzer tanks attempting to escape their position.
Everything goes off the rails and Eastwood has some good moments in the chaotic action sequences. We all love a good WW2 flick with our Yanks taking out Nazis, and these scenes are no exception.
Director Rod Lurie, whose made at least one great film with 2000's "The Contender" seems to be phoning it in for most of the film, but he knows how to stage an action sequence.
For the majority of the film, Castle is trapped behind enemy lines, 30 miles into German held territory, with an extraction point that seems to grow further away every time he is shot, beat up and damn near frozen in the winter landscape.
If it sounds exciting, it only rises once in awhile to that level.
Screenwriter Marc Frydman wrote "The Contender" and a far superior WW2 flick, "Flyboys". He's talented, but he seems stuck here, cribbing from Tarantino's WW2 masterpiece "Inglorious Basterds" liberally.
A scene with our hero hiding in the basement and peeking through the floorboards as evil Nazi SS Officers interrogate a farmer's family? CHECK.
Flamboyant SS Officers killing at will in front of our hero? CHECK.
Eastwood is actually pretty good throughout, carrying the film through its long "Sole Survivor" style tale that drags out a bit too long. You feel Eastwood's pain as the bullets tear into him and he pulls off a solid American hero, if you can stay awake that long.
What the film does get right is a real sense of time and place. The vehicles, tanks and weapons all look absolutely on point, even as some of the dialogue feels decades out of place in its slang and patter.
The best scene in the film is a one shot wonder with Castle approaching a half demolished building and encountering some very lethal Nazi's inside. It's a tribute to incredible choreography and camerawork, with every actor, special effects team member and stuntman being 100% on point.
I also liked the scene where Castle takes a tank off a cliff Thelma & Louise style. Seems far fetched, but it's a blast to watch.
If only the rest of the film had that level of interest. I love a great WW2 film, but
LUCKY STRIKE never quite engages, crawling along at tank speed to a C-.
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