Max Manus: Man of War

[Slaky]

If you guys love WWII shit and don't hate subtitles you MUST check out Max Manus on Netflix. It's available on demand.

Basically it's the true story of a Norwegian soldier who decides to form a resistance group behind Nazi lines after the occupation of Norway. It's fucking incredible. See it immediately.

[Quality Start Machine]

Is this the sequel to "Manus: The Hands Of Fate"?

[J. Walter Weatherman]

Is this the sequel to "Manus: The Hands Of Fate"?

Intrepid Reader: TEC

You rang?

[Slaky]

Damn you

[Wheezer]

I regrettably only got two-thirds of the way through this before keeling over, but it was not time poorly spent. I do have some cinematographic quibbles, including a frankly Harry Potter-esque bit at the start and the soundstaginess of the Limpet bits, but so far so good. The subtitles are a distinct nuisance given the intended visual spectacle. I'm tempted to follow this up with Zwartboek, but the Verhoeven factor might undo that.

[Tonker]

I regrettably only got two-thirds of the way through this before keeling over, but it was not time poorly spent. I do have some cinematographic quibbles, including a frankly Harry Potter-esque bit at the start and the soundstaginess of the Limpet bits, but so far so good. The subtitles are a distinct nuisance given the intended visual spectacle. I'm tempted to follow this up with Zwartboek, but the Verhoeven factor might undo that.

Don't bother.  Zwartboek is pish, and that's taking into account that I'm a fan of Carice van Houten.  Funny thing is, they filmed the Nazi HQ scenes for Zwartboek on "Plein" in Den Haag, and a couple of years ago I ran into her in the chipshop there ("Piet Patat").  She was trying very hard to pretend that she wasn't herself, without success.  She's absolutely tiny.  I absolutely would smash it.

[Wheezer]

I absolutely would smash it.

[Slaky]

I regrettably only got two-thirds of the way through this before keeling over, but it was not time poorly spent. I do have some cinematographic quibbles, including a frankly Harry Potter-esque bit at the start and the soundstaginess of the Limpet bits, but so far so good. The subtitles are a distinct nuisance given the intended visual spectacle. I'm tempted to follow this up with Zwartboek, but the Verhoeven factor might undo that.

Given that's it's an entirely Norwegian film without a cent of that Michael Bay money lent toward production I'm willing to overlook those things. I'd also like to pretend that my rudimentary understanding of spoken Norwegian helped me along but I'd probably be lying.

[Wheezer]

I regrettably only got two-thirds of the way through this before keeling over, but it was not time poorly spent. I do have some cinematographic quibbles, including a frankly Harry Potter-esque bit at the start and the soundstaginess of the Limpet bits, but so far so good. The subtitles are a distinct nuisance given the intended visual spectacle. I'm tempted to follow this up with Zwartboek, but the Verhoeven factor might undo that.

Given that's it's an entirely Norwegian film without a cent of that Michael Bay money lent toward production I'm willing to overlook those things. I'd also like to pretend that my rudimentary understanding of spoken Norwegian helped me along but I'd probably be lying.

While I have none, it seems like the sort of language that I could get my head around pretty quickly; I'm already, on second-half viewing, noticing seeming issues with the subtitles in which actual English loans go in and come out wrong.

But the true reason that I write is to note that I used to have almost exactly the same anorak as worn in the Finland flashback on the train to Sweden with the knife killing.

[Edit.--Oh, but yah, I think the dénouement sort of succeeds in rescuing the romantic subplot. I give it 5 smalahover on the traditional Norwegian polydactyl six-point scale.]

[Tonker]

Watching this now - and twenty minutes in, they're walking over a bridge on Loch Fyne in Scotland that is all of about a mile from my folks' house.  That's kind of cool.

[Slaky]

Watching this now - and twenty minutes in, they're walking over a bridge on Loch Fyne in Scotland that is all of about a mile from my folks' house.  That's kind of cool.

Would love to hear what you thought about the movie. It brought my wife to tears considering the how much that war affected her family.

[Tonker]

Watching this now - and twenty minutes in, they're walking over a bridge on Loch Fyne in Scotland that is all of about a mile from my folks' house.  That's kind of cool.

Would love to hear what you thought about the movie. It brought my wife to tears considering the how much that war affected her family.

The problem with War films is that, since Saving Ryan's Privates and especially Band of Brothers, I'm pretty hard to please.  Nonetheless, it was very nicely done and although it can't have had a tenth of the budget of SRP or BOB, never looked cheap and nasty.  Nice location stuff in Oslo, Stockholm and Argyll.  I do wish I spoke more Norwegian - like Wheez, I understand enough to know that the subtitles weren't always doing justice to the script.  The story was actually a little short, too - I thought the Finland campaign could have used more exploration, especially as it's that stuff which makes Manus into the man he is.  Also, it needed more boobs.

All in all, though, I enjoyed it, and I really liked the fact that it stayed pretty much true to the story - no Hollywood bollocks.  It was certainly no "Zwartboek", thank God.