The war genre has always proven a reliable draw both on the big screen and at home, so nobody should really be all that surprised that 2020’s Enemy Lines has mounted a daring rescue mission on-demand, in spite of being resoundingly panned for not being very good.
As per FlixPatrol, the World War II story you’ve either never heard of or don’t care about has become one of the 10 most-watched features for Prime Video subscribers in the United Kingdom, who probably won’t give it a second thought once the credits roll. We’re not here to sh*t on the film’s existence, because there are some stellar set pieces and practical effects, but everything else is resolutely forgettable.
Based on a 20 percent Rotten Tomatoes score, 35 percent user rating, and 4.5/10 audience average on IMDb, the consensus is made abundantly clear that there’s not a lot to recommend about Ed Westwick’s journey behind enemy lines (get it?) to lead a band of Allied commandos on a risky mission to squirrel a Polish rocket scientist away from right under Nazi noses.
It’s not an offensively awful work of cinema by any means, but there are nonetheless dozens upon dozens of war stories that have told roughly the same story, and done it a great deal better. Director Anders Banke does an admirably accomplished job of creating explosive scenes of pyrotechnic chaos that create a tangible sense of flying shrapnel, but beyond that Enemy Lines is just another “men on a mission” flick the likes of which everyone has seen plenty of times before.
Published: Oct 7, 2022 01:31 pm