Recon

Spend some money and hire some military historian, preferably specialized in WWII, or more specific Italy - Monte Cassino. I can assure you, they are a lot of them and more cheaper that any of those " seasoned reenactment specialists", or just spend some time researching, something like: List of United States divisions during World War II (on a very common website), and see that 5th Infantry Division, was nowhere Italy, ever, or that badge is also a fantasy, like parts of the uniforms, or the way they carry the rifle, just to name a few.

Lots of people got killed in WWII. You don't have missions of 4 people going off like random goats scurrying through the tundra for no reason. It's bloody stupid. What's it got to do with WWII? Absolutely Nothing, Huh, say it again. War, good god ya'll.

It's Italy in WW2. Four American soldiers witness their Sergeant killing a seemingly innocent civilian. The group encounters an old man pulling a cart who tells them about a group of nearby German soldiers. As they head off to recon their enemy, they fight among themselves and grow suspicious of the old man. It's a small war indie and it remains a small war indie. The characters feel small. The actors are small. The production is small. It's all very small.

It's not a blow your socks off action war epic. It's a small, dialogue driven suspense story. Most of the performances are very well done. There are a few questionable editing choices and some drawn out sequences. But in my opinion it's not as bad as most of these reviewers are saying it is.

Supposedly based somewhat on true events, Recon is a basic, low budget take about 4 soldiers who having just completed a mentally scarring mission are promptly sent back out to perform recon and report on enemy movements among the snow - capped Italian mountains during World War 2. The overarching theme is of soldiers already struggling with the consequences and psychological toll of previous actions, being thrust into another compromising situation. The movie is Robert Port's (an Oscar winning short filmmaker) feature debut and he is clearly less invested in military minutiae and more interested in seeing where these characters go from the film's harrowing opening scene, which unfortunately is also better than anything that follows.

Port in my opinion, needed to spend a little more of the film's production budget on getting more accurate technical military advice. Because although the acting is of an acceptable standard, the reconnaissance soldiers we see depicted, just behave so incongruously, it's just too much of an ask, that we viewers are expected to believe in and sympathise with them.

I've only had limited military training and experience, but seriously. Soldiers behind enemy lines wandering haphazardly, shouting and arguing constantly amongst themselves, grouping together to make easy targets, not searching people they come across properly, especially considering the aforementioned opening scenes? Absolutely nothing rings true. I mean I literally wanted to reach through the screen and throttle Private Asch myself. He just never shut up and was seemingly oblivious to the fact that a noisy, careless soldier such as himself would likely attract enemy attention to either himself, or his fellow soldiers. Simply confounding all around!

Recon looks good, for a small scale production. It's just a pity that after a compelling opening stanza, bizarre narrative set - ups and script decisions make the finished film so ineffective in conveying its worthy themes concerning post traumatic stress disorders among front line military personnel.