Let's face it, Asylum movies suck. Usually, these so-called mockbusters aren't even amusing enough to mock the movies they bust. Incredibly, I cannot lump director Joseph L. Lawson's World War II actioneer "Ardennes Fury" in the same category with the bulk of Asylum's half-baked releases. For the record, this contrived 88-minute blood, sweat, and tears combat mission outing is a straight-to-video, knock-off of director David Ayer's memorable, baptism-by-fire army tank tale "Fury." No, "Ardennes Fury" cannot begin to compare with the gory, war-is-Hell, Brad Pitt movie. Nevertheless, this Asylum release ranks far above the standard-issue studio offal. First, "Ardennes Fury" takes itself seriously and treats World War II with respect. This is a life and death narrative with an American Army Sergeant (Tom Stedman) struggles to get the men under his command back to their lines before they are annihilated by either the enemy or their own USAAF bombers. Unfortunately, the acting at worst is tolerable, and the special effects are hopelessly ersatz, but "Ardennes Fury" at least tries to be more than a bad 'shark' joke. Second, this is a bloody, grimy saga with a genuine villain with a murderous streak running down his Nazi spine. "Red Rose of Normandy" actor Tino Struckman succeeds in making himself into a vile enemy officer. All the German soldiers here are treated like Hollywood movies depicted them in the 1940s when the Allies were at war with the Axis. Third, civilians die! Okay, I'm giving away details, but real life tragedy in an Asylum movie!? The last thing that most Asylum movies share in common is a shred of reality. Here we have children getting kill! Struckman's officer guns them down, while in an unrelated incident an apparently dead German soldier playing possum shoots a little boy in the back! Typically, acts of terror like this are reserved only for the Gestapo. If a German soldier isn't pulling the trigger, then it is a piece of enemy ordinance. A helpless nun steps on a land mine, and she gets blown up. Not even a brave African-American G.I. can save her life. Although we don't see them get blasted to smithereens, they die that way! All of this adds up to an Asylum movie like none other! The American sergeant and the German officer square off near the end before a massive Allied aerial raid, and it is a down and dirty fight to the death. Predictably, the sergeant triumphs, but it is a close-call. When the sergeant shoves a knife into Tino Struckman's nefarious German officer's neck, I cheered him with gusto.
Now, I haven't exposed myself to every Asylum release, so there may be some good examples of other Asylum epics out there. "Ardennes Fury" is the first good movie that I have seen and would want to own on Blu-ray. I am overlooking many obvious technical errors. Sherman tanks were hardly a match for Tiger tanks, and Tigers were only vulnerable to Shermans from the rear. Here we are asked to believe that a Sherman could knock out several Tigers. Things would have been more credible how the American tanker crew survived the fray, found a crippled Tiger, killed the crew and used it against the other Tigers. Despite the numerous historical mistakes, I still think that director Joseph J. Lawson and scenarist Stephen Llorens deserve a salute for a job as well done as their minimal budget allowed them. Clearly, if these guys had a couple of million, they could have blown the bottom out of their subject matter.
مزید دکھائیں 
