LUCKY STRIKE -- PUT IT OUT!

Review by Steve Barton II

Will the world of cinema ever be done with its fascination with war movies? While they can be extremely expensive to produce, they are also known to be fantastic for return on investment. War movies are successful both domestically and internationally in theaters and a few of those are regarded as classics by many. After 80+ years since the events of World War II, one may assume that we’ve covered everything worth showing by now, but writer Marc Frydman and director Rod Laurie had other plans. Lucky Strike follows Castle (Scott Eastwood) as an American soldier in the Battle of the Bulge during World War II. After Castle loses his battalion, his solo mission to find his way back to the rendezvous point may prove futile.

Attempting to create a war film without major studio money backing it is a feat in itself. Everything from period-accurate costuming, props, sets and many more departments are horribly expensive to acquire or recreate. If Frydman and Laurie had aspirations to create the same magic that Saving Private Ryan or Schindler’s List did, they unfortunately missed the entire target. With a rumored $10 million dollars for a production budget, sacrifices were certainly made whether it was the cast size, VFX budget or script changes. The end product breaks the cardinal “show, don’t tell” filmmaking rule on multiple occasions and it unfortunately is from necessity. Rod Laurie attempts to give it some visual flair right away with the opening sequence being monochromatic and setting us in 1940s Nazi-occupied Germany, but we never get this effort again. We see war activities happening, but the sound effects and minimal visual effects trick your brain into thinking you’re seeing something intense. In reality, there's a few solid blood/guts moments, but it’s mostly guys awkwardly shaking prop guns and firing fake beams made by an overworked VFX artist. The scene with Eastwood taking the German tank for a “spin” and a few others almost made this dramatic war thriller into a comedic nightmare.

While the story is minimal and not unlike other “lone survivor” stories, Scott Eastwood does his best with what he’s got. To many older audience members, seeing Scott in an old school styled movie like this may make them double take thinking Clint has de-aged himself. You can’t say he’s doing an impression or impersonation of his father, but Clint’s genetics can’t help but overstate themselves. His facial expressions and speech patterns could be put next to one of Clint’s similar projects like 1968’s Where Eagle’s Dare and it may be difficult to decipher who is who. Lucky Strike is mostly a solo mission, but the additional cast featuring fellow nepo-baby Colin Hanks filled their roles tremendously. The German soldiers and the family that hides Castle under their floor (in a nearly identical scene to Inglorious Basterds) outshined everyone in their emotional delivery and intensity.

Overall, Lucky Strike has some interesting moments and decent performances but it’s lacking depth and reasoning. There is a scene where a character says a line like “In 80 years, will we learn from these mistakes or will we keep making them?” and the character may as well have been looking directly down the barrel of the camera. With multiple wars ongoing across the world, the filmmakers attempted to cut some modern commentary into this period piece and (similar to most of this movie) it doesn’t work. Adding on the song in the end credits with lyrics that come across as pro-war makes the messages from this movie come out hollow and weak. Rod Laurie can't decide if he actually despises the horrors of war or has wet dreams about them, but we can certainly make up our minds about his art. When the credits roll, the first words we see is a tribute that says “FOR THE BOYS” and it serves as a perfect punchline for whatever Lucky Strike is.

Lucky Strike hits theaters starting June 26th!

Rating: 1.5/5