fredgfinklemeyer 07/13/2018 Poor dialog from below average actors. Zero excitement, zero suspense, lackluster storyline. Brand new tanks (no dirt/no wear/zero battle scars), as well the trucks, the uniforms, helmets, weapons etc. No unshaved faces, no beards, forever clean clothes. As war movies go, this is a complete FAIL. I do NOT recommend that you waste 2 hours of your life/movie watching time on this film. Bon Appetit

grrg63 OK acting for the most part couldn't overcome corny, ham handed writing and plot, especially the the parts concerning racism. The actors spouting technical factoids about guns and equipment seemingly meant to impress WW2 nerds was dumb. The most egregious failings were the unrealistic appearance of equipment (fresh of the assembly line - no mud, dents or wear whatsoever), and uniforms (suede leather shoes fresh out of the box; no dirt, stains, smudges or rips on the clothes).The actors spend most of the movie freshly shaven until someone finally realized how ridiculous they looked. The racist guy goes from clean shaven to having 3 days growth in the middle of a scene. Amateur hour. I will say that Owens relating the experience of black units with combat experience being relegated to rear guard service and support duties was a common occurrence and a realistic touch.

ETO_Buff Most people aren't going to like my review of this film, just like all of my reviews, but I'm not going to sacrifice honesty for garbage. Most people that read these reviews, myself included, have already seen the film and they're just looking for people that agree with them anyway.I wanted so desperately to see this third installment in the Saints and Soldiers franchise and say that Ryan Little learned from his heinous mistakes of the film listed above this one. I have to wonder if my desperation has subconsciously influenced me into saying that this one is infinitesimally better than its predecessor, or if it is actually just as bad or worse.When one of my re-enacting associates posted on Facebook that he enjoyed this one more than Fury, it dawned on me what this film is. It is EXACTLY like a re-enactment battle would be! Everyone is in clean uniforms that they are afraid to get dirty (Everyone is in clean uniforms that they are afraid to get dirty (we re-enactors have to pay for our own uniforms, equipment, and blank ammo, which are all very expensive, so we understandably don't want them to get torn or broken to the point where they must be replaced), operating clean, freshly painted vehicles, and speaking lines that are written to be an instructional narrative for the audience so that even those with absolutely no knowledge of the way things were during the war can follow along.This is truly a re-enactment on film, complete with blow-dryer hair and blank ammunition that doesn't put the slightest mark on wooden barrels at point-blank range!What actually makes this film potentially slightly better than its predecessor is the film maker's attempt to address the issue of racist policies and prevailing attitudes in the U.S. Army during the war. The problem is, it portrays one soldier out of a dozen or so as being racist, while none of the others share his contempt for Owens, the Negro soldier that circumstances have suddenly thrust in amongst them. The reason that I call this a problem is because in the 1940s, racism in the military and many states was mandated by law, and it was something that the majority of European-Americans grew up with culturally. Even if a particular American was not the type of person to automatically dislike people of African descent for no specific reason, he or she had still been taught that they were an inferior race, and most people just accepted that as being the way it was. What I call "aggressive racism" ran rampant in the 1940s U.S. military, and those that were simply "passive racists" did not go out of their way to oppose aggressive racism. Very few people stuck up for "Negroes" in those days, and even fewer in the military did so.Therefore, racism was not the "accepted exception" that this film portrays. Additionally, the inevitable conversion of the American racist and changing his attitude because of his interaction with Owens and being told of Owens' mistreatment and his father's lynching because of their race is even more far-fetched.After all is said and done, my first impulse was to give this film only two stars, but I'm giving it an additional star for taking on the issue of racism, even if it took it on in a highly simplified way.

Alex Heaton (azanti0029) For those of you unfamiliar with the Saints and Soldiers trilogy, these are low budget WW2 movies, set on the Western Front, the first was in late 1944, during The Battle of The Bulge, the second was set in the South of France during Operation Anvil and the 3rd, this one is set in 1945 in Germany and the plot isn't that much different from the bigger budgeted 'Fury' - A group of two American Hellcat Tank Destroyers are to scout an area known as 'The Void' (I can't find any reference to this area in history, but here the context is that its Indian country) meanwhile a group of troopers being transported by the Redball Express, driven by none other than Jesse Owens himself is ambushed by a squadron of dated German Mark III Panzers, an English Agent is in the group who make their escape - soon the Hellcats arrive and its a question of who can outsmart who in the skirmish that follows. If you look through my other reviews you will see I like all kinds of movies but I am something of a WW2 buff and its always interesting to see these films, clearly made with love and care. Little here tries to put as much as he can in every shot to increase Production Value and it extra shots have been added to make the place feel more like Germany / Austria and less like Utah where it was filmed. For the most part this works, along with a heavy de- saturation of color in the edit suite, making you feel like the film is almost black and white and giving it the appropriate vintage feel. I recently also reviewed Allies and its easy to compare these two films, probably both having similar budgets and using resources from Tank Collectors and re-inactors. Allies is probably the superior of the two movies, but SAS - The Void is not without its great moments of action and tension. Some of the actors are good too but sadly this makes the weaker performances stand out all the more and these aren't helped by some very over stated dialogue. Little needs to team up with a good writer next time but also trust in his best actors to deliver more emotion with less words on some key scenes. Here and there dialogue is forced to explain things too much, but never the less what you have here is actually a great little film. Its well researched and feels bigger than it actually is, there is nice sense of scale and battle in the climax. Its biggest flaw is that its very hard to make a film shot in the States actually feel like Europe unless you can drop in some blue screen shots of European Towns or Villages (or Alternatively build one as they did in Fury) still with the obvious restraints of budget you have to commend Little's effort because it tries really hard with every shot to make the location feel European. I think this is a great film, with good attention to detail that is let down by some aspects that were clearly beyond the control or means of the production financially but with stronger writing it could have been a stronger film still. Worth watching and I look forward to Little's next film War Pigs, which has some big names in the cast - he has earned his shot to make a bigger movie, that is for sure.