Die Brücke

... consider it an accident and look for the - really impressive - original! You will spare yourself quite a lousy piece of love story and war action rudely looted from the heritage of the 50's version by Bernhard Wicki. Even Hollywood barely could do worse twisting historical facts and life stories into some sort of spectacular fireworks performed by characters who don't really deserve this description. Good war movies (such as the original one!) should include the stories of the human beings involved, narrated in an empathic way thus helping the viewer to understand or at least imagine how it might have come to all the cruelty - and maybe even how it could be overcome. Otherwise there will be sown rather fascination than consternation. The next war will come too soon anyway. 2/10 just because of occasionally good acting (esp. by the soldier boys) and seemingly accurate requisites (uniforms, armory...).

I noticed that all the former comments about this film were a) made by Germans, and b) they all slander it, and for me that has some weight. I don't know any German, so I can't say if the acting was good or bad, but it looked and felt at least pretty good, most of the time.

As a history buff and germanophile (who can't speak the language - perish the thought!) I found this film to be quite good in a historical context - and, I was impressed by that the equipment used by both Germans and Americans looked very authentic (with one MAJOR exception for the Americans) apart perhaps that the boys were/looked too old: they were supposed to be 16, and not a single one looked that age. Of course, that's the same thing with 25-year-olds playing high school teens in American films...

From a military point of view, this is also a pretty accurate film: The Germans did use single squads of troopers to defend small tactical objectives, as the bridge in the film. It also shows the devastating power of the Panzerfaust 100, the hand-held tank killer. Very nice, unless you are on the receiving end of it.

The sfx was OK, but absolutely nothing fancy.

However, the film has flaws that were carried over the language barrier, namely a totally unnecessary love plot and a more interesting love plot that would have done well to be better developed. Also, I didn't like that characters just vanished from the story without me getting to know of their departure.

I have to agree with some other comments about the lack of character development - it could definitely be better, that's for certain. Oddly, the best character development was done about some of the elder extras, not the main characters.

The film is also too melodramatic for my liking, so much I began thinking of the Russian film Zvesda which was just as bad in that area. Having the film maker telling me to feel sorry for the protagonists is not the way of scoring a 10 on IMDb.

The people who made this awful remake should hide and shame. As a German shortly born after the war I saw the original as a boy and that movie has made a lasting impact on me and I have never ever seen a war movie or shall we say a Anti war movie better than the ORIGINAL "Die Brücke". This remake should be burn and forgotten IT IS AWFUL nd waste of time. Look for the original instead. The remake does not even come close to the time it happens, the feeling is all wrong The love story it total out of place and out of context. Even the language is not the language or use of the language during that period of time. Have you ever seen the original "Die Brücke" you will laugh about this stupid remake.

You don't have to know the original to dislike this version of "Die Brücke." It is what its producers wanted it to be: filled with more action and romance than the original, more "modern" (whatever that means), in color and whathaveyounot. What lacks is any sense of reality, any understanding of the time or the people. The romance is unmotivated, that action has no impact at all, and music and slo-mo-shots are overused and abused to imply epic qualities or sadness (passing trucks with wounded German soldiers, dying American tank driver). All in all this looks like a bigger budgeted WWII-film in the vein of the many amateur videos you can see on Youtube, where teenagers dress up in uniforms, wield plastic gun replicas and insert lots of muzzle flash effects over the action scenes.

Hi "dixibuster", you should see the original version, which is not 30, but almost 50 years old and one of the classical and best movies in German movie history.

This remake is a well-meant try to bring this serious issue to todays's younger generation. Clear, it's nothing in comparison to Dennis Gansels "Napola", but it's o.k. And if the remake brings some of the audience of the younger generation to see Bernard Wickis original from 1959, then I think it has fulfilled his service.

But one thing I must add: Main Character Francois Göske shows also here, that he's one of the most talented young actors in Germany. With his extremely physically acting he will have a great movie career !