Movie Review: World War II Film “Wunderland” Is An Uninspiring Dud

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Christmas 1944, the Germans make one final push against the attacking allied armies in the West. Lt. Robert Cappa and his platoon of 2nd Infantry Division soldiers have been ordered to hold a vital road junction against the German aggressors. Cappa and his men must find their faith and strength to stand against their enemy in the epic fight known as “The Battle of The Bulge.”

Well, here we are, another day, another WWII film. The oversaturated subject is revisited with the reliable but criminally underused Tom Berenger. “Wunderland” begins with a lengthy historical background detailing, the Battle of the Bulge, which was the German army’s last major offensive against the Allied troops. It was a nasty fight for both sides, taking place in the freezing dense Ardennes Forest.

The protagonists introduced are a small squad of American soldiers flanking and successfully ambushing a German platoon. During the firefight, the Americans are a little too accurate, which made the action feel forced and staged. After heading back to headquarters, they are told by their Major (Berenger) that they must head into the thick of battle and push the Germans back. The blindly optimistic goal was to end the war by Christmas.

The props and costumes look authentic, and at times you can actually feel the cold, seeing the steam from characters’ breath. The filming, refreshingly, is on location in the woods but must’ve been early winter because until the climax, and some jarringly fake digital snowfall, there’s basically no snow on the ground in any scenes. The low budget is very apparent during the big battle scenes. In one scene, an anti-tank gun is firing on a squad of tanks and the missiles looked beyond fake, as if they were crudely illustrated in post-production.

The United States has the largest military in the world but hasn’t had a successful campaign since WWII. I guess that’s the reason so many movies on the subject are produced over and over again. Aside from Robert Schwentke’s excellent and original “The Captain,” I haven’t seen a great or original WWII movie in years. “Wunderland”, unfortunately, doesn’t bring anything compelling to the overdone genre. Characters are thinly written, talking about their girl back home who’s writing every week and other typical tropes. Lines like, “I’ll follow you into hell,” made me roll my eyes. Of course, there’s also a scene of a young man mortally wounded, getting extra morphine for a less painful death. By the end of the short but dull movie, I was ready to wave a white flag for surrender. For a much more nuanced approach to the snowy Battle of the Bulge, I highly recommend HBO’s “Band of Brothers.”

Available on VOD Tuesday, October 2nd