Occasionally the budget does leave it looking slightly tacky but the story and performances make it a worthwile watch and is certainly something that should be known by more.
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muamba_eats_toast5 February 2020
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Chris-077771 February 2019Great aerial camera work, CGI that's not overdone, and superb sound. In a theater, you truly feel like you're there in 1940, on the wing or in the cockpit, to the extent that any "romance" of air combat is dispelled. (At home, turn up the Dolby Surround.)
Yet the film deserved better. The one character developed with any depth is Victoria Brown, an RAF staffer and drama queen too shallow and selfish to be likable (and for better and worse, totally fictitious according to another account). There are too many mid-way flashbacks. Then the lead character gets sent elsewhere to be an instructor, King George visits the squadron to sign autographs, and the story is over even before the Battle of Britain is. It's consistent with the theme that the Pole's main purpose, as far as Fighter Command was concerned, was to buy time until more British pilots could be trained--mission accomplished. Still, it feels too anti-climactic.
Looking forward to how "Hurricane" tells 303 Squadron's story. -
This subject of WWII history surely deserves a movie, but it's too bad, that it ended up like this.
The flying scenes really look great, the CGI production was worth every penny. Unfortunately they couldn't really do anything with it, because the combat scenes were written just poorly. As soon as they got up in the air, they instantly bumped into some geman plane and they shot it down. Thrilling, isn't it?
When the CGI takes most of the budget, they need to save cash on different areas: -I swear, like 2/3 of the movie plays in pubs or restaurants. After a while this could become like a drinking game, it's that laughable. As soon as they leave the pub, you can place your bets, that they will be back almost instantly. -The acting is quite stiff and the bad and pointless dialogues don't make their job easier -The script is so pointless from time to time. Random flashbacks, that don't add anything, strange love plots that have no depth and you won't believe even for a second. Also the portrait of the british generals is just non-sense. For quite a time they are actually more evil than the nazis. -I do understand that this is a story about the polish squad, but the polish pathos here was strong, it was hard to take after a while. It was like these handful of polish fighters fought back the whole nazi Luftwaffe themselves and the brits had nothing to do with it.
It was an ambitious project to do, unfortunately it seems it ended up in the wrong hands -
straver-14 September 2019The plot unfolds out of sequence, very much in the style of Quentin Tarantino, and major characters are not introduced. But, for those who know the history of the period their role in the story is obvious. The flying scenes are mostly excellent and the true story gets a reasonable representation. Overall, it's well done and worth seeing.
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For starters I was a military pilot for 24 years and have combat experience. The current lead review states that the combat scenes were "very amateurish" ... not true and I will wager that the reviewer has never engaged in air-to-air gunnery. I have ... and it looks just about like it was depicted.
Second ... this is a true story. I did a bit of research on the 303 and the movie depiction (except maybe for the social aspects) seems very true. 303 had a remarkable combat record.
The character development was OK. It conveyed the motivations of the key players. The thing that really dragged this movie down for me was the direction. Four languages are spoken: English, German, Polish and Russian. I have reasonable fluency in 2 of the 4 but I will wager that there are very few who do not need subtitles. The director cuts back and forth in location and time, often jumping several years. The jumps are revealed in a note on the left corner of the screen while at the same time you are trying to read fast moving subtitles. Too much work. Hard to follow. With better direction to avoid this random jumping, I would have rated this an 8.
All in all a good flick, well worth watching. And I thank the 303 for their heroic service in an unimaginably tough air war that really saved the world. -
paulwattriley16 November 2019Terrible writing and editing ruined what should have been a great story. The music at the end credits makes no sense either
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Box office hit in Poland with 1,200,000 admissions. I spent nice time in the cinema. Good entertainment. Good actors.
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silicontourist23 June 2022From the use of the wrong German Messerschmidt's (planes used never saw action until 2 years plus after the Battle Of Britain) and incorrect uniforms etc, it all just added to a very poorly researched and directed film. The only saving grace of the entire film were the aerial scenes...dogfights et al! I remember being taken by my school, as a very young kid, to see The Battle Of Britain film of 1967 and, for me it stands as still the only great to watch aerial warfare story of the WW2 era. The '633 Squadron', 'Reach For The Sky' and 'Dam-Buster's' films are the other great films about that era.
The Poilsh Pilots were treated badly when they reached Britain because of racism etc but, their real problem came from the British RAF Air Marshall - the man in charge- Dowding (later Lord Dowding). They were just so full of chatter/talking in the air and it jammed the airwaves of flight control trying to talk to all the pilots and guide the missions.
They were only allowed to fly when too many British Pilots had been lost/killed (which included an uncle of mine). There was still a lot of objection from a great many pompous egotists of the middle and upper classes. I have always wondered if British arrogance had not been so full of pompous BS, how many British pilots lives would have been saved if the Polish squadrons had been allowed to fly a lot earlier.
By the way! A lot of the Polish pilots were already pilots before the war which is how they learnt to fly the Hurricanes (and later the Spitfires) so quickly!
Its worth a watch for some of the historical factual history (not the made up BS that is mixed in with it) and the aerial scenes that look nice but strangely inadequate at the same time.
There is quite a bit of Winston Churchill speeches during the film but in the telling of WW2 history in books etc, there is no mention that the Polish people suffered dreadfully for 44 years under Russian brutality because of the betrayal of them by Churchill and President Teddy Roosevelt (read about the deal they made with Stalin if you want to know more). Churchill always said that history would look upon him favourably because he world be the one who wrote it!
I also wonder why there were 2 films were made about the 303 Polish Squadron in the same year; 2018? -
rafiz12 January 2019Beautiful story in a terrible performance. The acting game does not set the quality of this terrible montage. Rating high on 6 because of the real heroes. I hope to see some professional production about 303 Squadron, it does not count as one.
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adaejoerg2 November 2020Did I watch a documentary? A war film? The CGI parts were okay, the script and acting not. The film is piecemeal, disjointed and badlly told. AND: It borrows shamelessly from the 1997 Czech film "DARK BLUE WORLD"
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emrys-948-23895812 June 2020A good film, and a serious attempt to represent 'how it was' for Polish pilots in the Battle of Britain. The flying sequences are excellent, and they correctly portray the stupid Fighter Command early tactics, finally moving to 'finger 4' formation late in the battle.
One gripe. "The Battle of Britain" 1967 started the idea that Polish (and other) squadrons were kept out of the battle because of racism. That is not correct. It was Dowding's decision and he wouldn't have them because of sloppy R/T procedure, which the film highlights BTW. Going into the battle Dowding had a very clunky radar (far, far behind German radar although he didn't know that) which meant that the battle had to be controlled from a battle control room that collated the information. That was entirely new, but turned out to be a huge strength. The battle control room controlled the battle over radio, again entirely new, one voice channel for the whole battle. If any pilot left his R/T on send it jammed communication and control was lost, battle control lost communication with their pilots in the air. The Poles were wonderful pilots and very brave, but they wouldn't shut up, they kept leaving their R/T on send in training. So they were kept in reserve until it got desperate, then we saw what they could do. They still didn't shut up. -
cherry_town15 July 2019The movie gets you perplexed. First you do not believe that, with Nazi aces being shot en masse, all Polish make it safe to an airfield. That is until you see the final credits which inform you that only 8 Polish pilots have been KIA in 303 Dywizjon. Otherwise the movie is overflown with Poles' victories of British women's hearts, their combat tactics superior to RAF's, and the ability to instantly command British fighter with never having flown them before. Many ends remain loose like the murky role of the actress Victoria Brown and sketchy story how Poles got finally to the Isles via Romania. The combat scenes are very amauterish perhaps due to the modest budget. Still, this is tribute to Polish heroes.
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christophers-7847512 November 2018The movie could have been special. It was not. Characters were thrown in, scenes cut in and out for no reason. If you're not a history buff, you're lost throughout. A very, very strange flat and really awkward movie with a horrible beginning, middle and no ending.
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petercriches16 January 2021If you are going to tell a story, then best not to leap around from date to date and place to place without any rhyme or reason.
A truly heroic story let down by people trying to prove how clever they are. -
mishandtim16 November 2019Not the best story but still enjoyed this film. Some goof flying and action scenes
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johnyysmith12 November 2019Polish Squadron 303 were arguably the best RAF squadron to take part in the Battle of Britain. Their memory should have been honoured with a great film. This film was not great. I saw little evidence that anyone with a good knowledge of WWII or the Battle had any say in the matter. Or anyone with an aviation knowledge.
It was disjointed. Filled with rather silly dialogue. All the British officers were idiots. Playing roles, probably never played by WAAF's at that time, all the women were beautiful. In other words it was made for teenagers. Shame -
My Dad was in the RAF and flew with Polish crews of whom he spoke highly. He'd be disgusted by the poor quality of this effort! In truth, RAF officers from the top down had nothing but the highest regard for the Poles. It should be remembered that Poles served with ALL our services - not just the RAF. The 'xenophobia' as some critics describe came mainly from the Army. RAF High Command soon realised that good pilots didn't just come from Oxford and Cambridge, so no change there. I noticed too how the American news broadcasts kept saying how Britain was being invaded as we speak blah..blah. US sour grapes "coz our good ol' boys didn't fight in the Battle of Britain so we can't say we won it, even if Hollywood wants to". Never mind! The Polish Airmen deserved a film far better than this. Their contribution to victory must never be forgotten. Very brave, born fighters who never give up.
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andrashka9 November 2018A motion picture needs a story and good actors. This has neither. It's an unmitigated disaster especially in terms of plot: there is none, so you have to sit through 100 minutes of random scenes thrown at you.
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peterkeane25 May 2019The Royal Air Force's 303 Squadron has a superlative history in reality.While there were some problems initially integrating the Polish Air and Ground Crews to the R.A.F.'s way of operating the 'Skills and Drills' of the Squadron were soon synchronised and their effectiveness and professionalism can easily be defined by reveiwing the effect they had on the Luftwaffe throughout the Second World War. This Movie presents as a mix of excellent CGI flying scenes,but sloppy and erratic production.Uniforms,badges,equipment etc are not correct and I was left wondering if they had a Military advisor at all! This story was much better told by the Movie "Hurricane" which was also released recently
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howiehere19 December 2018My father was in Squadron 300. It felt realistic and I enjoyed this film a lot. It was well done , I give it 10/10 no problem at all. I was reminded of my father too.
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jokerqq29 September 2018This film feels like someone just cut out random scenes from a documentary, and then put them back together in a random order. It doesn't have a hint of an interesting plot, it doesn't have a begining or an ending. I remember watching this film and it just ended. No explanation given. It just cut to the credits in a random moment. That's basically the summary of this entire movie - things happening randomly, for no reason. Characters just come and go, and the film doesn't introduce them, nor does it give their stories a proper conclusion. Well, that's even if they had any stories... and they don't.
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artoo-3239726 October 2019Visual effects in Mayday Air Disaster are much better. Numb and pathetic dialogues totally unbelievable. Congratulations to all who survived to the end of the "movie".
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kulhanekjosef7 February 2021The fighters in 303. squadron were heroes. Embellishing their achievements at the expense of real history and their British hosts is not necessary, and very unfair. Works as a nationalistic pamphlet but not a historic movie. The story is crap, characters shallow, historic accuracy nonexistent. "Inspired by real events" at best.
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Bryan-286-29692120 July 2019Seemed like lots of scenes strung together. Mediocre acting. Cringe-worthy.
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It has to first be stated that were it not for heroes such as those depicted in this movie, this review would have to be in German! Or, of course, the movie would never have been made because the adage: the victor writes the history book would be in place and there would be no Polish anything anymore!
My opinion of the acting was simply 'gauged'. I had the feeling that every single one of the actors was trying to do justice to the real person they were portraying instead of making it entertainment (check out the amazing similarities to the actual people in the end credits!). The question is; is that in itself a bad thing? Sadly, because people watch movies for entertainment it will be. Although there were various attempts to add some documentary feel to it, that was lost in amongst the seemingly instantaneous cuts been allies and foes!
However, as a movie that brings attention to some of the 'being forgotten' heroes, it is a great piece of movie making with some excellent backstory components and as another reviewer mentioned no end, although I believe that as, with the Titanic, the end is pretty well understood. Having said that, it would have been nice to have something like 'ironically he ... went on to fly for Lufthansa until he retired in 1962' ending because those of us that haven't read the whole story only know that they were real heroes!
Synopsis: War fans will appreciate the attention to details, although the details were 'limited' at times. Historians should use this as a reason to research more about these young men and women who were willing to sacrifice everything for their beliefs and freedom. Entertainment fans, sorry, you may feel a little disappointed with this but the aero action scenes are pretty good (interwoven with actual footage).