Rhineland (2007) Reviews

• Like a high school production with a tank

  averen-randall2012-07-10

  I felt the need to create an account on IMDb specifically to review this movie. From reading other rave reviews, they suggested it might be on par with other well-known war films. I don't have anything against indie filmmaking, but this movie was ABYSMAL. Was I watching the same film as the other reviewers? Because the only redeeming feature was the fact that they managed to dig up some decent WW2 replica gear. However, let this be a lesson that props do not a war film make! By all means, rough cinematography and simple backgrounds can be easily overlooked so long as the story, dialogue, and acting are strong. However, all these supporting bases for the film are dramatically lacking! The storyline is painfully weak and predictable and steals countless suggestions from Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan. The dialogue is absolutely atrocious, and I'd recommend against using the phrase "hot chow" several times in a 90 minute movie. The cinematography is clichéd and looks definitively amateur, not helped by the odd scene of red kool-aid being spat out by actor trying to die convincingly (Not to mention that most battles take place with the opposing sides 5 yards apart). Regrettably I found Paul Wendell to be the WEAKEST actor out of all the leads' poor performances, (although the odd supporting character does carry off a decent line) and the undoubtedly dismal acting was not helped by the clichéd, cheesy and altogether unconvincing dialogue. In between the scenes that are abruptly and inappropriately transitioned at about a grade 10 student's editing level, you will repeatedly find some charming fiddle music reminiscent of a slow evening at the Celtic pub. It shows up at odd times and leaves the viewer baffled as to whether he is supposed to feel sad or hopeful. An extremely ill-done attempt to force emotion into a dead horse of a film. I appreciate that someone was passionate about making this work, but no-one aside from the actors' moms could possibly find any aspect of this film plausible or even acceptably executed. I'm not one to exaggerate, but minus the weak special effects and war gear, this could pass for little better than a film student's final project.

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• Wow!!!

  BlueRibbonGirl7772007-07-30

  I caught this last week at the St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase and was literally blown away that this type of film could be accomplished outside of Hollywood. To be completely honest, I am not that big of a war film buff (that's more my husband) but I was truly impressed by this endeavor. Chris Grega's direction was solid in telling the story of a hard lucked mine platoon in WWII Germany. The acting was top notch, especially by the three main characters, Derek Simmons, R. Travis Estes and Paul Wendell. Wendell's character, the brutal Sgt. Bowen, was the one that really stood out for me. His acting was stellar who, like Grega, seems destined for bigger and better things. The whole cast played well and really made me a believe that they were going through hell. But Grega really deserves recognition here. During the Q&A session after the showing, he disclosed how he was able to put it all together. I won't go into the details but I was shocked at how ambitious this project was. I only hope that "Rhineland" gets out to the general public and gets seen. Just a great film that did an excellent job at portraying the misery and confusion of war.

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• Premiere review St. Louis, MO 7/25/07

  theperfecttomcollins2007-07-26

  (may contain spoilers) This review is prejudiced, and gladly so. After reading, I hope the reader will understand why. For one day, January 6, 2007, a visit to a filming location proved that what one could imagine, one could do. Make a film in Missouri taking place in Europe during the closing months of World War II. It was happening right in front of this writer's eyes. And what a revelation. And filming had been going on since 2005. There's history to back up why such a head-turning location made sense. One need only look at a map and scrape just the surface of history to find a huge German culture alive along the banks of the Missouri River forty miles upstream from its confluence with the mighty Mississippi just north of downtown St. Louis. Go West, so to speak, and one can see Europe. 19th century German settlers saw this land so reminiscent of their old one, they adopted it as a home. With the river and her bluffs and her flood plain, the Missouri River was the Rhine of America. And on both the Mo's banks, German culture in places such as Hermann, Missouri flourished, most notably for grape-growing and winemaking. If the early German settlers recognized the land as like their home in the Old World, it didn't take much more for writer and director Chris Grega to spot a landscape in the New World close by his Missouri home ripe for use as the location for filming his latest movie, "Rhineland". The premiere was the culmination of a two year endeavor portraying a brief period of the life, and the death, in a mine platoon of American GIs in the closing months of battle in the European Theater of Operations, circa March 1945. In a place known as Rhineland. Think of how quickly a month and a half goes by in life now and remember that it would only be that long before the war in Europe would finally be over for the soldiers in the ETO. All soldiers then were short-timers. Think of that. Then watch the movie. Gutsy endeavor. Gutsy all around.

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• Wow indeed!

  benjinder2012-07-13

  I had great expectations for this film given the "rave" reviews. Looking closer I noticed the "source" of those reviews. My bad. For starters, I love indie films and can appreciate the efforts made with limited budgets etc, but this film had me wincing with the very first spew of horrible dialogue and atrocious acting right to the very end. At times I couldn't believe I was still sitting there...watching this brutal train-wreck unfold before my very eyes. Did the director gather up his 'no experience pals' from his neighbourhood? It appears so. It was truly a great chore to watch to the end. I guess what kept me watching was only to see just how bad it could get. The acting was absolutely abysmal, I use abysmal because if I typed how I really felt this review would not be posted. Sgt "Wendell" must have undoubtedly gotten his acting lessons and slid into character from watching the horrible 'Rambo' films. Lowering ones voice and furrowing your brow do not make a convincing character what-so-ever. It was beyond laughable, as were most if not all characters in every last scene. Was the budget so low that every scene only got one take? Clearly one take was "good enough" to move on to the next. Every opportunity to make it count was missed. Every actor offered little to no emotion,(or if there was any it was beyond hollow) in any character interaction. Character development was so lacking there was no possibility for the viewer to "connect" with anyone. How unfortunate. I found myself constantly shaking my head, mouth agape, not because of the brutality of war, but because of the endless laughable scenes. Pure wincing frustrating comedy. Many battles took place which were pitched only a few yards apart. It was like watching a cheesy blaster battle in a Starwars film. Any possibility of adding military tactics flew right out the window from the very first encounter. If someone did die, spitting up fruit punch as blood was far from convincing. Many scenes were "borrowed" from other great films and were once again utterly butchered with terrible, emotionless dialogue and acting. Why copy a scene that has already been done so well in other films? An instant set up for failure. And fail they did. As it was with every scene that has been done before, or not, it failed. Again, one 'take' was seemingly good enough. It was utterly, highly predictable and poorly executed throughout. Scenes that ended abruptly with no segue. Fiddle music? that just didn't fit the scene or the period. I suppose it was a very weak attempt to add some kind of emotion to already lifeless scenes. My wife and I made a game of guessing the outcome of main characters with much success right up to the very end. I can overlook the weak special effects, and throwing few period pieces of equipment was a nice touch, but this is not enough to carry a film all by itself. Someone seemed to forget this along the way. I can think of no other war film that rivals "Rhineland" for absurdity. Again I can appreciate the efforts made by this indie 'team' but I find it an extreme, grave insult to the countless brave men on both sides, who laid down their lives and for their accomplishments to be portrayed so poorly and with such ineptitude by such awful direction, abysmal actors and p-poor dialogue". If you cant do it justice on ANY level then you shouldn't do it at all. And to all the budding young directors out there take note....this is a prime example of how NOT to shoot a "war" movie. I would be ashamed to put my name on this. Yeeesh.

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• Brilliantly realistic, a truly sterling effort for the budget!

  treadstow-943-55592014-12-01

  Let me start by saying this film is worth a watch! I felt compelled to right a review to counter the unfairly negative ones. This film has obviously been done on a shoe string budget however the battle sequences I found to be very engaging and incredibly realistic. Far better than an awful lot that I've seen that have had huge budgets! Moreover the sense of confusion and boredom that is portrayed (perhaps accidentally at times) really adds to the realism, as does the 'shaky' cam. War is boring most of the time and it's certainly confusing. All in all this is a very low budget production and it shows, but at times I found it staggeringly realistic and brilliantly composed, the costume and equipment is spot on and I found the gritty unromantic portrayal of war to be a breath of fresh air.

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