This one checks off all the boxes for the bad, low-budget WWII movies lurking around streaming platform algorithms: an over the top poster that oversells the drama and has nothing to do with the movie... poor acting... cringy dialogue... generic sets... awkward special effects... a forgettable plot.
But WWII: Operation Phoenix delivers even more, with a cast of mostly old, overweight men, many sporting beards and one even with a goatee; some of these guys even have white hair and white facial hair. None of them resemble trained, 20-something soldiers you'd expect to see in a WWII story. The required French resistance fighter as a pretty girl with a beret is of course included in this ensemble. She delights one of the old men with a kiss on the cheek before he strolls through someone's backyard and takes out like a half-dozen German soldiers with a pistol like a dad-bod John Wick. At times, it feels like they lean heavily into this character's comedic value but none of it is all that funny.
The Germans speak with predictably horrendous accents and the real bad ones have 1) framed photos of Hitler noticeably displayed behind their desks and 2) the standard black leather trench coat draped over their shoulders. I think the crew had one Nazi flag to use and just thumbtacked it into the wall of each building they filmed at. The German POW camp lacked perimeter fences - the one thing you'd expect to see in a prison - and looked like they filmed it at a Boy Scout campground with a few cabins in a field. Or maybe it was state park in New Jersey, who knows?
Like a lot of these sort of low-budget films, the production managed to get some WWII vehicles and a plane to film with, so those were probably the best elements to see here, especially the interior of the plane. The German fighter plane looked like it could have been footage from an airshow. I imagine those involved and their friends and family were urged to throw some 10-star ratings here on IMDb, so you'll see those of course.
Most of the rifles appeared to be props or replicas, with smoke added in post-production each time they were fired. Pretty bad. The German soldiers were inept and overweight. The sailors were old and overweight. The ship captain looked like every cliched white bearded old man you've seen steering a ship. I'm sure the cast had fun running around with guns to film this though!
