Personally, I think you naysayers have a bit too much "Hollywood Reporter" in your veins...............
And you apparently missed the best, most inspirational parts of the movie - the two scenes of serious "Sacrifice to Duty" that were quite real - and happened in many places and all theatres of war - where you do what has to be done, even if your chances of personal survival are slim to none - for the good of the cause.
The first such scene was when they turned right into the Tiger's sights and then recognizing the threat (and knowing the only way to beat a Tiger was for one of them to work his way behind it) charged as a group - knowing the Tiger was unlikely to get all of them in time. Nobody chickened out or ran, despite the horrible odds. (Quoting something I heard from another site, where a German tank commander admitted that a Tiger could generally take on and defeat as many as five Shermans in battle - except there was always SIX Shermans!)
The second, quite obvious scene was after they lost a track at the Crossroad. Everybody piles out, and, quite reasonably, the crew decides they are done for and must walk away from the disabled tank. No way to win - 300 SS Troops to one damaged Sherman.
Only Wardaddy sees The Mission is more important than himself and his crew, initially. But he rallys them, reminds them what they came there to do - and they climb back in and fight. Just like the 300 Spartans - there is no chance of victory or escape, this is a sacrifice play to protect the larger American force - and they are the only ones left who can do it. "They saw their duty and they done it!". That was the real message of the movie - and a fitting tribute to those who did just that and didn't come home, as way too many WWII tankers did not. Entire crews killed in an instant - that was reality then. Or being trapped and surrounded - and fighting to the end.
If you missed getting that out of those two scenes - then I can see why you panned it so hard. Like "Saving Private Ryan" the current moviegoing generation can always use another good, hard look at what sacrifice for a noble cause looks like. Just in case that knowledge is needed again....... CC
Last edited by Col. Colt; 11-08-2014 at 12:56.
Reason: accuracy
Colt, Glock and Remington factory trained LE Armorer
LE Trained Firearms Instructor