Fortress

After a string of stinkers out of Hollywood lately, I wasn't expecting much from this film, with its cast of little known actors. And at first I thought it was living up to my expectations, with a few glitches here and there dragging my attention out of the story. But it kept pulling me back and I found at the end that I was thoroughly absorbed. It hammers a few points perhaps over-strongly, where subtlety might have been more elegant, but it had an honesty that overlaid that.

It isn't gung-ho like a 60's war movie, and it isn't ultra-realistic like a modern battle film, it's somewhere in between and has a charm and compulsion of its own that made me very pleased to have watched it.

Forgive it its few faults and it will reward you with a good watch!

I hate seeing people unfairly underrating films because they are not happy with seeing unknown actors and graphics that don't reach super tech status...give them a chance, these guys have created an enjoyable b movie that easily equals anything that a more known actor can make. Why do you all down talk graphics and special effects? its not always the graphics that make the film,do you think you can do any better? ...i didn't think so or you'd have done it by now....this movie was better than many i have seen so far these last few months and as it was based on true facts i wasn't expecting anything overly exciting to happen but was impressed by the story and will happily watch it again another day with my partner.

I realize that this was an extremely ambitious project produced on a shoestring budget. Allowing for this, is it too much trouble to find somebody who knows somebody whose cousin knows somebody that had even the slightest knowledge of Army Air Corps uniforms? Find a book with pictures of aircrew from that theater of the war. NO PILOT WEARS HIS WINGS ON THE FLAP OF HIS KHAKI SHIRT POCKET. All other flying crew (and especially the CO) would be wearing the appropriate wings for their specialty. The wings are worn directly above the pocket on the left side of the khaki shirt. Every single leather brimmed officer's hat was screwed up. When you take out the cap spring to get a 50 Mission Crush the sides of the had are pulled down over the band on the side from wearing earphones over the hat. It looked like there was a box of wadded up hats dumped on the set and everybody just grabbed whichever one they could get and slammed it on his head. Overseas (Cunt caps) hats are not tucked into the epaulets when indoors, they are slipped into the belt. And for god's sake have everyone get a haircut that would make them appear they were in the military. These are all cost free items that make the production look cheaper than necessary.

It's also unlikely that there would be a large B17 group based in Africa. Most of the units there were equipped with the B24 and they were painted in a desert tan paint scheme. All in all lack of attention to small no-cost details detracted from this movie.

With the advent of CGI, the story of the 8th Air Force in Europe during WWII is begging to be told. The visual effects in this film were very good--I just wish they had shown the B-17s over Germany instead. Over a hundred thousand young men were killed in B-17s and B-24s over the skies of the Third Reich. Spielberg needs to make this film.

"Fortress" is a great first step, and I thank the producers for doing what big-time Hollywood could not. They made a much better film than "Memphis Belle", which was so badly Hollywoodized that the story it told about a real airplane and its crew was in no way the real story.

In "Memphis Belle", six actual B-17s were used, along with large radio-controlled models. One B-17 was lost during the production.

With CGI, hundreds of 17s and 24s can fill the skies, and the look is incredibly realistic. "Fortress" is definitely worth seeing.

The short and skinny here is, if you like war films (i.e. Memphis Belle (1990)) and want to kill 90 mins or so, this movie will do the trick. The writing isn't terrible...the story is acceptable...the actors are all unknowns (except Chris Owen, "The Shermanator" of American Pie fame) but manage to hold their own and deliver their lines convincingly enough. There were a few scenes where the the backgrounds were a little weak (poor green screening), but they weren't very long and weren't game-breakers. I have seen many, many B-Rated movies and this one was a surprise in that it succeeded in not being an A rated film, and at the same time, better than most B rated films. It's a diamond in the rough, but entertaining enough to not be a total waste of time.