I was already very doubtful about this film with its title, which seems to me someone made it up without thinking too much, and just because of the religious soldier in the lead. However it was not as bad as I feared, but still not great. It's definitely a "B" movie, with a film quality and poor production to match, but the acting was reasonably OK, except for the the British character. Corbin Allred played the lead well, a deeply christian soldier who was also an excellent shot, however that in itself was a bit of a "B" movie cliche. It helped that the story was based on an original WW2 scenario, the american soldiers were all played well, by american actors, but the British Soldier was played poorly by Kirby Heyborne, his English accent was a bit off, and the way he played his part was not how an English soldier would have been. I have said this many times before, its always better if you get an actor of the same nationality as the character to play the role correctly, so why did they not choose a British actor? After all, its not as if they are in short supply. Don't get me wrong, some Americans play English parts exceptionally well, but Kirby didn't.
Other faults with the film included continuity, also some scenes were a bit daft, particularly the ending, the photography was a bit dark and it would have benefitted wider angles to see more of the scenery in the winter time it was set, but the main problem was direction, which severely lacked any level of skill or sensitivity. The only thing that saved it was the acting from the American soldiers and the storyline.
There is a sequel to this which was Saints and Soldiers: Airborne Creed (an even more dubious title) which I had downloaded, but I only watched the start and turned it off because it was crap at the start, so I wanted to save myself the agony of watching it all the way through. I am glad I watched this one though, if not just for the experience, but am not putting it in any list of top films, since it would be more likely in a lower range.
Other faults with the film included continuity, also some scenes were a bit daft, particularly the ending, the photography was a bit dark and it would have benefitted wider angles to see more of the scenery in the winter time it was set, but the main problem was direction, which severely lacked any level of skill or sensitivity. The only thing that saved it was the acting from the American soldiers and the storyline.
There is a sequel to this which was Saints and Soldiers: Airborne Creed (an even more dubious title) which I had downloaded, but I only watched the start and turned it off because it was crap at the start, so I wanted to save myself the agony of watching it all the way through. I am glad I watched this one though, if not just for the experience, but am not putting it in any list of top films, since it would be more likely in a lower range.