Arguably the movie with the most (male) film stars ever assembled. The cast is nothing lees than astounding. The film not so much. While other war movies paint the same picture that war is senseless, this movie questions not only war but the movie itself. I first saw A Bridge too Far when I was ten and was immediately struck of how bleak it ended. Then saw it in my 20s again and looked for something more than just story. Maybe it was a fine film regardless of story. It wasn't. And now being 42 I was seeing it again and the whole movie seems just as pointless. I know, some purpose of the movie was to show how pointless war is in itself, but as I said before countless other war movies have made that before without making the whole movie about nothing. Allied forces trying to capture bridges in Holland, suffer heavy casualties, have to retreat, ending up right where they started and a whole lot of people died for nothing. Yes, that's war and I guess this absurdity is depicted here. I'm just wondering if this could have been handled better. Showing war is absurd without sacrificing the integrity of the whole film. Longest Day could. Saving Private Ryan could. Hacksaw Ridge could as well. This falls short. Too bad. The cast deserved better.
Review by Galileo5BlockedParent2017-03-31T16:08:38Z
Arguably the movie with the most (male) film stars ever assembled. The cast is nothing lees than astounding. The film not so much. While other war movies paint the same picture that war is senseless, this movie questions not only war but the movie itself. I first saw A Bridge too Far when I was ten and was immediately struck of how bleak it ended. Then saw it in my 20s again and looked for something more than just story. Maybe it was a fine film regardless of story. It wasn't. And now being 42 I was seeing it again and the whole movie seems just as pointless. I know, some purpose of the movie was to show how pointless war is in itself, but as I said before countless other war movies have made that before without making the whole movie about nothing. Allied forces trying to capture bridges in Holland, suffer heavy casualties, have to retreat, ending up right where they started and a whole lot of people died for nothing. Yes, that's war and I guess this absurdity is depicted here. I'm just wondering if this could have been handled better. Showing war is absurd without sacrificing the integrity of the whole film. Longest Day could. Saving Private Ryan could. Hacksaw Ridge could as well. This falls short. Too bad. The cast deserved better.