Age of Heroes (2011)

Review: written July 2011

Snow, Nazis and machine guns, on a budget

OK, one reluctantly has to admit this is on one hand a clichéd movie with stereotypical characters, low budget and a story that smacks of half a dozen other `men-on-a-mission' movies.. it's true. On the other hand though, is that with a low budget this has done a pretty bang up job of telling the story of 30 Commando Unit, with bravado, machine guns, stunning Norwegian landscapes and even a modicum of suspense, even if the script doesn't do the topic full justice. 30 Commando Unit, or 30 Assault Unit, was an actual unit put together by a Commander Ian Fleming, then the Commander of Naval Intelligence during WW II, who is, to put it mildly, better known for his success as a writer after the war. The mission portrayed here is typical of the sorts of behind the lines mission they went on, to extract key information and science rather than just blow stuff up - in this case radar jamming technology. Not to say that stuff doesn't get blown up along the way- it does, of course.

Sean Bean fits the bill nicely as the leader of the unit, and Danny Dyer actually manages some relative restraint by his standards in the role of the newcomer to the team, the misfit who wants to become a commando. James Darcy plays Ian Fleming back in London, but most of the action takes place in training in the Highlands, followed by the mission in a beautifully snowswept Norway. The action is effectively both believable and almost exciting, the scenery fantastic. It's really only the utterly linear story which is a shortcoming, being no more than it says on the tin, and a script which resolutely refuses to add layers to either emotion or character. It's just men, going on a mission.. (well, mostly men - the gorgeous Izabella Miko being an engaging exception). No surprises at all in store, and an ending which is awfully abrupt and lacking an emotional payoff to what character build up there was in the rest of the movie.

The running time is trim enough to be manageable, and if you head into it aware that you'll know at the start what is going to happen at the end, but you’re willing to enjoy the scenery and the journey, you'll do fine. If you want either the wit and plot complexity of “Where Eagles Dare” or the moral questioning and ambiguity of “The Dirty Dozen”, then better give this a miss.