Harts War (Blu-ray) (2002)

"...expertly plotted.  David Ansen, NewsWeek
"...lets us concentrate on emotions rather than explosions.  Lawrence Toppman, Charlotte Observer
"A solid piece of storytelling...an epic of war...  William Arnold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Editor's Note Director Gregory Hoblit's debut feature was the tricky courtroom drama PRIMAL FEAR. With his fourth feature, HART'S WAR, Hoblit is back with another. This time the court is inside a WWII prisoner-of-war camp. The defendant is Lieutenant Lincoln Scott (Terrence Howard), a black officer accused of killing a racist sergeant (Cole Hauser). Scott's lawyer is Lieutenant Tommy Hart (Colin Farrell), a second-year law student at Yale. A U.S. senator's son, Hart was having a relatively easy war until he was captured, interrogated, and sent to Stalag VI. The camp commandant is the urbane, charming, and ruthless SS Major Visser (compellingly played by Rumanian actor Marcel Iures). The ranking American officer at the camp is Colonel William McNamara (Bruce Willis), and Hart is soon in conflict with him. When Scott is accused of murder, McNamara insists that the prisoners should hold a court martial, and he appoints Hart counsel for the defense. At the court martial, Hart finds his client is being railroaded, although he gets help from unexpected quarters. Intricately plotted by scriptwriters Billy Ray and Terry George, and filmed by Hoblit with his accustomed attention to detail, HART'S WAR is a devious and absorbing courtroom/POW drama.

	Adrian Grenier
	Bruce Willis
	Cole Hauser
	Colin Farrell
	Joe Spano
	Linus Roache
	Rory Cochrane
	Terrence Howard
	Alar Kivilo - Cinematographer
	Arnold Rifkin - Producer
	Billy Ray - Screenplay
	David Rosenbloom - Editor
	Gregory Hoblit - Director
	John Katzenbach - Based On Novel By
	Rachel Portman - Original Music By
	Terry George - Screenplay
	Wolfgang Glattes - Executive Producer

Entertainment Weekly
"...[A] stolid and earnest military courtroom drama..." 02/15/2002 p.42-3

Total Film
"...Farrell wins sympathy through his somber, thoughtful deliberations, a generously underplaying Willis brings gravitas, and Marcel Lures' commandant, Colonel Visser is a surprisingly rounded creation..." 05/01/2002 p.97

Chicago Sun-Times
"...Absorbing....What makes it more intriguing is the sense that something else is going on underneath the action..." 02/15/2002 p.33

ReelViews 8 of 10
In some ways, Hart's War appears like just another WW2 prisoner of war movie - a genre that has given us classics like The Great Escape and Stalag 17 (not to mention "Hogan's Heroes"). But there's more to Gregory Hoblit's film than initially meets the eye. In addition to dealing with the ins-and-outs of surviving in a Nazi prison camp during the latter months of the war, the film confronts racism in the armed forces in a manner that, while not subtle, avoids seeming smothered in political correctness. Plus, as one would expect from a film that exists in this setting, it examines issues of honor and courage, and shows that there are many flavors of both...Hart's War works uncommonly well because of the effective manner in which it blends together its various elements: the WW2 prison camp setting, the courtroom aspects, and the issues of honor, racism, and redemption. - James Berardinelli

Chicago Sun-Times 8 of 10
Colin Farrell, the young star of Joel Schumacher's powerful but hardly released "Tigerland" (2000), is a 26-year-old Dublin native obviously destined for stardom. He does a good job with the conflicted, anguished Lt. Hart, and Bruce Willis brings instinctive authority to the colonel. Marcel Iures, a Romanian actor, is sharp-edged and intriguing as the Nazi commandant...Bowing to ancient and outdated convention, director Gregory Hoblit and writers Billy Ray and Terry George put the plot through an awkward U-turn so that Willis can end up as a hero. How and why he does so is ingenious, yes, but the ending gives the impression it is a solution when it is only a remedy. - Roger Ebert