Alone We Fight (2018) Poster

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2/10
New equipment
johnkelley-6483722 May 2019
How do you fight a war after landing in Normandy and not have a scratch on the tank, tents are clean and look new, helmets without a scratch.
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2/10
I will never see another Justin Lee film again smh
Top_Dawg_Critic7 November 2018
This is the 3rd flop I've seen this year from Justin Lee. Who puts up the money for this garbage? Does he not know how to write a screenplay or direct his actors? I guess this is the result when all your experience in writing and directing is TV series. At least give one of those hats to a professional that can teach you something before you try to do it all yourself when taking on a full length feature film and make the same mistakes over and over every time. Maybe then one of your films may get a rating higher than a 5.

This once again was another long dragged out dumb story that goes nowhere with lousy pacing and boring extended scenes that make you yawn. The dialogue was just non-stop insignificant garble. The grenade effects were lame little ant-hill explosions. The actors voices were either too loud or barely legible. Even the actors looked bored. And enough with the slow motion scenes, it's so 1980's.

This film should have been edited down to a 30 min TV film. A generous 2/10 for the cinematography and war sets (albeit minimal).
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2/10
Should have been entitled - Together we talk..
soldout2jc13 January 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Spoilers ahead - though, I'm not revealing anything other than this is a terrible movie.. I should have stopped watching after the first 15 minutes, but Instead I chose to endure it so I could write this review..

First the title - it's all wrong. This should have been called "together we talk" instead of alone we fight. The first 30 minutes of the movie, there is 0 indications of a war that's supposedly going on other than a static set with 3 women 2 tents, a jeep (serial 20371949) and a tank. While at the aid station (I can't call it much more than this) almost all of the dialogue is delivered by the most timid - mousy sounding woman they could have possibly found..

When the action starts, the "mortar" fire that starts raining down to finally break up the terrible - non-relevant dialogue amounts to not much more than a firecracker or 2 going off followed by someone throwing shovels of dirt onto the cast. Mikey and his Sgt Falcone (our hero) that never stops talking, decide to jump into action and run exactly the right direction to find the mortar team, who they take out with a (1) grenade. Despite the low intensity explosion of the grenade, we cut to a scene next where there is an inexplicable amount of carnage with severed limbs.

Enter Corbin Bernson, who arrives at the camp in the very same jeep ( 20371949 ). So we know that it at least runs and I suppose we are to believe that someone left the camp to get him, and bring him back. Apparently he's been holed up somewhere without water or access to a razor for 2-3 weeks because he's got a full beard. He goes on to explain to the 8 people in the camp, the reason that we've not seen any "War" in the area because the "88's" are a couple miles away "splitting shermans like walnuts.." (you never get to see anything close to this) He advises that they all oughta head back before the battle makes it their way (but that's not a retreat). The entire war hinges on the presence of this sole petrol station about 1000 yards through the forest. Against all odds, our 3 rangers decide that they want to make a difference and take out that fuel depot.

We are now 45 minutes in and "we're back to more dialogue with the mousy sounding nurse delivering her lines almost inaudibly. At one point - even the soldier she's talking to even says "what's that?" likely because he didn't hear her either.. The next brilliant scene is one where the 3 soldiers are sitting around an ammo cache and loading rounds into the magazines. You can barely hear the dialogue over the sound of the rounds being inserted into the magazines. It's a good thing they are loading them at the safety of the camp, because the sound loading a magazine in the field would certainly tip off all enemy within a 1 square mile area of your location.

As our team of rangers finally decide to leave the camp, there's a convenient sign with the word "enemy" and an arrow pointing out of the camp. I guess when there's no gun fire within 50 miles of your location, you need some visual aids to point you towards the war.. 300 yards into their 1000 yard journey to the petrol station, the sergeant has to stop and read a map and have refreshments because they are clearly parched by the arduous journey thus far. By his assessment, they have 700 yards remaining and it will take about 2 and a half hours. Really? They are walking and not being shot at. Even belly crawling through mud, while being shot at would not require 2.5 hours of time to traverse 700 yards. After their rest, they stand back up and about 10 feet further there is the enemy sniper predicted by their sergeant. - One of the team is hit and killed and the other two decide to build a memorial out of the fallen soldiers helmet, gun and bayonette - but in slow motion..

500 yards into the journey, they encounter a couple of germans that all appear to be having equipment challenges, only shooting 5-10 bullets before they need to reload and then struggling with that.. They take the first 2 out and then immediately there's a machine gun crew that decides to join the fight. They aren't very effective though because despite the ammo cans laying about, they only load a belt of ammunition that has about 30-40 rounds on it. They also manage to miss everything they are shooting at, except for the steel tank trap.

700 yards into the journey, it's getting dark and our squad of 2 rangers decide to camp for a couple of hours because, well they wouldn't want to step on a bouncing betty.. The next morning, they apparently travel another 300 yards undetected, because they arrive at the "petrol station" where some germans are supposedly pushing 50 gallon barrels of petrol up a hillside. Maybe petrol weighs much less than gasoline, but I doubt anyone is pushing 300 pound barrels of liquid up a hillside. Meanwhile our two rangers are concocting their plan to blow up the entire encampment with a grenade and a satchel charge. Before they can spring into action a singular light armored vehicle arrives and a small skirmish ensues. In the chaos, one of the barrels tips over and drains down the hill and conveniently to the rear of the light armored vehicle. The grenade and satchel charge are both thrown, doing no damage (because the explosions are still not much more than a couple of firecrackers). Fortunately, one of the rangers has a zippo which he lights and sacrifices to the fire gods to ignite the petrol on the ground. Even though there's nothing left in the barrel, everything goes up in flames in the only REALLY spectacular explosion in the movie, resulting in the destruction of the depot.

Under fire, the 2 rangers retreat, returning fire and announcing loudly each time one of their weapons "jams". A couple more fire cracker grenades are thrown, with the rangers acting like the explosions are going to be epic, with shrapnel flying.. Yet, when the germans start throwing their firecracker grenades into the path where the rangers are making their 1000 yard sprint back to safety - they never flinch or take shrapnel - or even seem to notice. Apparently grenades are not all that powerful after all.. Half way back, our 2 "rangers", looking like they've just ran 22 miles, are trudging along and not 1 but BOTH of them fall into a machine gun pit. It's not clear if this is the same pit they cleared the first time through, but this time it's occupied by more germans. It's also no more than 2 feet deep. They would have seen it coming and the germans must have been napping because they didn't seem to notice these 2 lumbering fools until literally, they fell right on top of them.

A couple of knife wounds and a gun shot later, Mikey is down for the count and he declares that he's out of ammo. Sgt Falcone says he is also.. Our hero tries to drag him the last 300 yards of the journey back to the line. They don't get far, before a random singular enemy catch up to them and finishes Mikey off. Sergeant Falcon is also wounded, falling onto his back leaving his ammo belt with all of his presumably empty magazines behind. He continues to crawl - determined to complete the last 200 yards of the journey back. For some reason, he decides to crawl on the road, which allows the germans to locate him in the light armored vehicle that they should have taken or blown up at the depot. Fortunately, before they can actually land a round on his location the prop tank from the first scene has been mobilized, complete with a tank commander who's torso protrudes from the top of the tank by 4 feet.

Sgt Falcone is rescued and driven the last 200 yards in the back of an ambulance to the same camp, a quote from Hemingway is displayed and then the credits roll.

*** No vintage ww2 vehicles were harmed in the making of this movie. ***

There you have it - a complete waste of 1 hour and 31 minutes.
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1/10
Waste of time
texinva18 June 2019
The movie had potential. Other than Benson the actors are unknowns, but they showed promise. The story was basic but doable. The two technical consultants should refund their salaries, it was that bad. If this had been done by a college level fine arts student it would be lauded as a good effort. But its not. Its a waste of time, money and talent. Its too obviously a low budget film. Other reviewers have pointed out errors in weather, and lack of dirt on equipment and people. I have been a casual student of war fof quite some time, and before this i have never seen German troops wearing bandanas to hide their faces. Maybe it makes sense for the sniper, but not for anyone else. Unless the producer only had one person qualified to play the German part, and they had to hide his face.
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1/10
Alone I Groaned
bluegray-1935517 June 2019
Really horrible script and storyline. Amazing how all the soldiers in the movie, Axis and Allied, had nearly spotless uniforms. Even the mechanized equipment was spotless without damage or even a smudge of dirt.
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1/10
Say what?
Smierdziuch_Paskudnik10 November 2018
Warning: Spoilers
The most exciting piece is the beginning, where we are being told, that it is Belgium, December 44 and apparently there's a war going on. Of course, as it is quite usual for European winter, the sun is shining, the leaves are green, the forest is quiet and welcoming and there's not a single snowflake around. How lucky, cos at supposedly the same time, just a few miles away, in Bruges, Americans were freezing in the knee high snow, Anyone cares to explain why there are some fires randomly scattered around for no reason? Then we got a bunch of American GIs, still in their battle gear, walked by German soldiers, who again, for no reason decide to waste time on digging a hole and then proceed to murder two captives. Why only two you ask? Well, the evil can not prevail, so our POWs are finally deciding that enough is enough, and in a twisted turnaround they kill their captors. Enough is enough, so I say, no reason to watch this rubbish anymore. .
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1/10
Nice uniforms, horrible story and film
barleyrich4 December 2019
Everyone in this movie is 40-50 years old. The movie is set in the Hurtgen forest in December 1944 but the looks more like august 1944: there are green leaves on the trees and weeds everywhere. The story is stiff and concocted. Uniforms are fairly authentic except when there seems to be a Wehrmacht soldier hanging out with SS troopers in SS camo. All these Nazis are 50 years old. Find some actors under 20 FFS already. Avoid this film at all costs.
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1/10
Ridiculous and Unrealistic
hrao25 November 2020
Avoid this movie-

Army Rangers are supposed to be fit, not fat. Send 3 soldiers to attack a fuel depot? Really? No German SS soldier can aim and shoot ? The German soldiers take cover behind fuel drums?
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2/10
Barely worth reviewing
aifleming29 January 2020
Terrible plot, awful acting, entirely unbelievable, festooned with plot holes, littered with poor cliches...it doesn't get much worse.

Not worth watching
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1/10
91 minutes of my life gone forever
Lanting28 May 2019
Warning: Spoilers
I try to find something optimistic to say about even bad movies but this one was awful. After reading the other reviews I decided it couldn't be "that" bad. It was.

Spoilers

After wandering around in the woods and escaping the German death squad the soldiers stumble upon an "aid" station, complete with American female nurses behind enemy lines. The men who have been fighting for three years, on several battlefields, have to be forced to even talk to the nurses much less eat a meal.

This movie had a $6.5 million budget but I couldn't see where any of it was spent on the special effects.

Grenades thrown at soldiers feet only make a puff of smoke. Bullet holes don't bleed, and none of the bullets are through-shots.

Running through the woods they fall into an open machine gun nest and despite being out of ammunition leave the German rifles, grenades, and machine guns, all with ammo, behind.

The Sargent gets shot in the shoulder and has bright red blood, that doesn't run, on his lips and chin.

After blowing up a fuel supply depot the soldiers leave an armored vehicle behind and choose to run a mile through the forest only the be shot as they cross the road by the vehicle that they left behind.
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8/10
One of the better low budget WWII films I've seen Warning: Spoilers
We were able to preview this prior to it's release and we generally liked it. Military detail was pretty accurate with one glaring error in my and others estimates. The Colonel had a beard. Never would happen in WWII maybe a couple of days stubble in battle but officers especially field grade played it pretty straight to set an example to the troops. Over all I liked it.
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6/10
Low Budget of an Untold Story
donandsherrys10 December 2018
This is a story that needed to be told. Too many comments critiquing this film are obviously missing the message and the story that was told. Seems like too many snowflakes that are unable to handle the fact that war is gruesome, ugly, and unforgiving and have little to no respect for those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice. Recommend you watch.
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1/10
VERY POOR
dcmullikin3 November 2019
Very, Very Poor movie. High school level acting. Action scenes, poor. Any idiot that thinks a mortar round explodes like shown here knows nothing about reality. Weapon fire is a joke, from sound to recoil, the Thompson was never on full auto, which anyone would have done. If there was a book it had to be better.
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1/10
One of the worst
alexanderschneidersdl27 June 2020
So to start of the idea is kinda fun, but was proly made it basicly looked like a low Budget Bollywood film with only the uniforms being good. However half of the movie was boring, the battle Scene were lame and unrealistic... for example 3 Germans following 2 americans who are running in a straight line 3 Germans throw there grenades, yes there grenades at open Targets that are Maybe 15mn away and These grenades land next to them... an Explosion happens that was smaller then my 2 Euro Firework, all 3 of These grenades landed next to them and Nothing happend, more of These low Budget explosions accure mortar Shells for example like litearly nothin

There are way more scence like this and belief me, if you are a fan of history in General you are gonna cry the intire movie..... dont watch it.... spend your time watching paint dry, its more worth it than watching this garbage movie
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1/10
Tried watching
milehighhelo1 March 2022
It's a WWII. I watched until a soldier said, "They didn't get us at Normandy, they didn't get us in Nam". What! Nam? Are you kidding me? Terrible writing all through. And two female medics on the front line. Geez.
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1/10
I gave up
darcar-523234 September 2019
25 minuts before i understod that this was a waste of time... Really poor!!
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2/10
This Film Takes a 21st Century Look at a 20th Century Reality
hewilson2-72-79686824 November 2020
If you are stickler for cultural accuracy, you likely will not appreciate this film. The concept of the modern therapeutic culture did not exist in in 1944. There was no Prozac or Paxil and no one other than Hollywood starlets and upper middle class Manhattan socialites had a therapist. Now please, don't get me wrong. I in no way wish to diminish the emotional stress or trauma of combat veterans. Not at all. Never. But this film is a seemingly endless group therapy session between Army Rangers while in a combat setting, a more improbable scenario than which I cannot imagine and which is best exemplified by a scene in which Rangers who have volunteered for a seeming suicide mission, facing an outflanking German counteroffensive, sit loading rifle magazines at a desultory pace, discussing, with no urgency, their fears and motivations. These are the ways in which modern, non-military men would behave. But in this film, such men are transported back to 1944 for a field group therapy session. Not my cup of tea.
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4/10
Just okay
taylorsrout14 February 2019
I love a good war flick so I tend to forgive budget issues, which this one clearly had. It suffers mostly from being the "three guys stuck in the wilderness" trope that lets the producers avoid expansive scenes they don't have the budget for, but, as those films tend to do, this one bogs down real quick.
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4/10
Good story and battle scenes
npjy8314 February 2019
The first half of this movie is quite boring, with lots of dialogue and some bad acting in parts, however the last half of the movie is where it kicks off, and is very intense and exciting. Good "behind enemy lines" storyline. I enjoyed the second half of this movie rather than the build up, where it was was drawn out quite remarkably.
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1/10
This story line gave me PTSD
jjbernardy5 September 2020
Some of the main character's acting was actually better then expected for a low budget movie.... but the historical accuracy made me cringe so hard and so often that my fitbit thought I ran a marathon. A ranger unit landing at D-day supposedly all being from the same high school football team is just not how it worked. They would have all met for the first time in training. Far worse, is when they come up behind German mortar unit... with absolute surprise, in what world would you lob a grenade and hope for the best versus just shooting them in the back? I had to stop it after that scene because I was getting angry.
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5/10
No Bad Considering Its Low-Budget Heroics
zardoz-1330 November 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Writer & director Justin Lee's low-budget, loquacious, World War II epic "Alone We Fight" set against the background of the fireworks in the blood-splattered Battle of Hürtgen Forest suffers from slow-pacing and one incredibly stupid moment when our heroes neglect to blow up a light armored German vehicle in the woods. A bearded Corbin Bernsen shows up in a cameo as Colonel Bradley Armstrong and provides audiences with the basics that our heroes are up against the enemy. Afterward, he disappears. Nothing wrong with his brief appearance, but Johnny Messner is woefully wasted in a nothing role as Captain Hank Kedry who shows up near the ending as a Sherman tank commander. Meanwhile, Sergeant Gregory Falcone (Aidan Bristow of "American Mummy"), Private Michael 'Boston' O'Reilly (Matthew James McCarthy of "A Reckoning"), and Private Benjamin Archer (Philip Nathanael of "Hard Sun") are all who remains of the American Rangers. When Colonel Armstrong warns them that the Germans are poised to strike the aid station, kill the wounded, and rape the two female medics, Sergeant Falcone volunteers to lead a mission into enemy-occupied terrain to blow up a fuel depot which will halt the German advance. Sadly, the low-budget stands out, with less than thirty actors and actresses. The leafy, green forest conceals most of everything, and we are never given the perspective from the enemy's viewpoint. They are just ruthless, SS Nazis, and all they do is kill, kill, and kill. Our heroes-initially a quartet-are captured at the outset of the action, and these notorious SS troops force them to dig their own graves. One of the four refuses to comply to their murderous demands, and the surviving three turn the tables on the Germans and kill them. After this promising opening scene, director Justin Lee allows the action to slack as the survivors make it back to an aid station and recuperate and learn about the terrible prospects awaiting them and their friends if they don't counterattack. The basic outline of Lee's screenplay isn't bad, but he has this awful problem of dragging things out. Although we come to sympathize with the Rangers, we know that the formulaic War Movie clichés are going to lock down the action. Literally, nothing surprising happens during this respectable, 91-minute shoot'em up. Predictably, you can guess which of the intrepid three is going to die, and then the Germans settle down to whittle the other two down. Our heroes blow up the meager fuel depot and use a light attack vehicle as cover for their depredations. Unfortunately, they neglected to disable the attack vehicle, and the Germans pursue them in it as our heroes flee for their lives. In real life, I don't think that hardened, combat seasoned soldiers like these guys would have overlook the hazards that the light attack vehicle would present. Mind you, I struggle to keep up with these low-budget World War II movies, and I wonder if anybody advised Lee about some of the incidents in the action. However, if this movie excites you, then you should watch some episodes of the ABC-TV series "Combat" because the squad in that revered series faced similar perils on a weekly basis with greater realism. Altogether, "Alone We Fight" isn't abysmal, or as abysmal as another recent low-budget W.W. 2 outing entitled "Wunderland" which takes place during the Battle of the Bulge. Of course, "Alone We Fight" never gives us a genuine picture of the hardships that American G.I.s confronted when their absent-minded commanders plunged them into action in the Hürtgen Forest. Performances are competent as is "A Reckoning's" lenser Justin Janowitz's cinematography.
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5/10
Not to bad worth the wacth!
redsdrift12 December 2019
Warning: Spoilers
The first scene had me hooked! Dont know about nurses on the front lines ww2...
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