Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Asad Almond A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Haven Kaycee It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

marklv Having seen this film/movie in its original language, of which I am a fluent speaker, I am left with the impression that this is little more than propaganda. The Russians are portrayed as valiant heroes and heroic, unrelenting fighters, or else as cheerful, happy peasants who are subjected to brutal exploitation by demonic Nazi troops. The Italians appear as annoyed and unwilling soldiers, far kinder than the 'evil' Germans, but totally naive about war. Once you ignore the obvious political connotations of all this, the film is actually quite entertaining; certainly a good war film, though nowhere near the great Hollywood epics. In reality, by 1942, no less than 300,000 Italian soldiers, comprising 12 full strength divisions and support staff, were employed in southern Russia, guarding the northern flank of the German offensive towards Stalingrad, alongside Romanians and Hungarians. All the Axis allies forces - not just the Italians - lacked sufficient artillery or adequate winter equipment and motorised transport. Consequently, when the Russians launched their Winter offensive, it was directed against these weaker forces rather than the Germans. It was not surprising when these forces broke and ran in disorder. Morale was also not high - most of the soldiers were poorly educated peasants who were badly treated by their superior officers.The film is worth watching as an example of seeing 'the other side' engaged in a war that most Brtiish and Americans know relatively little about. Just make sure you ignore the pro-Soviet tone.

Donal Cullen The Italians did fight on the Eastern Front and fought well. Unlike the battles in the Western Desert, the Italians really believed in this war and fought with distinction. However, the war fought on the Eastern Front was a bitter battle and because this movie was made with the co-operation of the Soviet Union it has none of the horrors that actually happened in the east. The Soviets are portrayed as heroic and the better side which was far from the truth. But considering the proproganda crap that came out of Hollywood this is excusable. I happen to like movies about this part of World War Two because it is an antidote to the John Wayne type of movie which distorts much of what actually happened. There are some good movies on the subject, Cross of Iron and Stalingrad to name two, but this is sadly lacking in comparsion.

Melvin M. Carter A leftist version of the Fascist Mussolini's death sentence of his undergunned,unmotivated (generally) cannon fodder on the Eastern Front. Being made with the cooperation of the then Soviet government,the Russkies get all the sympathetic colors while the doomed Italians come off as unenlightened peasants who hadn't been shown the Marxist Way. They get walked over in the final battle scenes by the Noble Soviets including some Cossacks in a saber charge against the retreating Germans and Italians. I told my friend who was watching it with me that things like this did happen on the Eastern Front but any coherent unit could envision horsemeat in the mess plate. Unlike Cross of Iron or the German movie Stalingrad a very weak and very prejudiced look at the hell that was combat in WWII Russia. Unlike Paths of Glory or Breaker Morant doesn't have universal anti war message but comes across as weak attempt to show WAR IS HELL but winds up a dull movie on the subject a purgatory to watch.

jnselko Most folks don't know that the Italians had over 80,000 troops in Russia during WWII, and fewer know that most of them died or were captured during the retreat in the dead of winter from Stalingrad.This movie does an excellent job of showing the life of an (any) average soldier in any army- the grunts, the footsloggers, the cannon fodder. The few officers shown (the exception being the colonel in charge of the unit) are far from heroic, being either cowards or incompetents.Shot in stark black and white, this movie personalizes war in a way that hagiography's such as "Patton" or extravaganza's like "The Longest Day" absolutely failed to do. If anything, this is like a (much) shorter version of "A Band Of Brothers"- it is that good.As stated by other commentators, nothing good happens to anyone in this movie- it is real-life film noir. Good, bad, indifferent, everybody suffers. This is what a war movie made by, if not Jules Dassin or Robert Siodmak, than Richard Fleischner or Felix Feist would look like. It is not all gloom and doom however. The scenes which take place during the advance through the Ukraine in the spring and summer are light, and reveal the soldiers attitude of "What are we doing here?" and contrasts them well with the occasional appearance of a Nazi official or an officer of the Wehrmacht.For those interested, read "Few Returned" by Eugenio Corti, an Italien officer who was one of the few to escape the destruction of the Italian Expeditionary Force on the steppes of Russia, and for an Italian's view of their erstwhile "ally", I recommend "Kaput" by Curzio Malaparte, an Italian journalist who witnessed at first hand the savagery of the Nazi occupation in Poland and points east.