Coverage:

Courtroom dramas usually get a thumbs up from me, especially if they’re as competent and solid as "Hart’s War." Set in a German POW camp during World War II, second year law student Tommy Hart (Colin Farrell), an Army officer’s aid (thanks to his father’s political pull), is captured by the Third Reich and dumped in a prisoner of war camp. The plot kicks in when a white POW is murdered, and Hart is assigned by the camp’s ranking POW officer, gung-ho Col. McNamara (Bruce Willis), to defend the black suspect (Terrence Howard). This comes about after McNamara convinces the German camp commandant to let the American prisoners hold the trial/court martial. Of course, whenever you have black and white soldiers in close proximity of each other in a 1940’s movie, the usual racial epithets start flying. So there’s no surprises there. However, Gregory Hoblit is well known for directing movies with twisted endings, and "Hart’s War" is no exception. And despite the action filled-trailers you might have seen, "Hart’s War" is not "The Great Escape," "Stalag 17" or even "A Solder’s Story." It’s more of a confined, solidly acted courtroom drama and its better than your average film.