Saints and Soldiers: The Void Review

Jon Pardew Movie Review: 7/10

Rated: PG-13
Sexual Content: 0/10
Violence: 5/10
Profanity: 2/10
Drugs/Alcohol: 3/10

Saints and Soldiers takes place toward the end of World War II.  Two tank destroyers are ambushed by the Nazis.  Sgt. Jesse Owens, an African American soldier, gets mixed up with the unfortunate events and is not treated too kindly by some of his comrades because of the color of his skin.  His comrades later come to realize that they are wrong for judging Owens based on his skin color.

Story: 7/10

It seems that there are an unlimited amount of stories that you can pull from World War II.  I appreciate that Saints and Soldiers is a story about letting down your guard and accepting others as people.  I was not aware that African American soldiers were treated unfairly in WWII.  It isn't something that is often brought up.  It seems that racism is a constant battle and it is great to see movies that work to establish the equality of mankind.  

Acting: 7/10

For a locally made movie, the actors they got did a great job.  It might not have had big names in it but some of the actors really made the story believable.  K. Danor Gerald (Sgt. Jesse Owens) could really get into character.  His monologue he performs about his father and his race blew me away.  He may be going places in his acting career.

Cinema Photography: 5/10

Most of the movie was filmed in Utah.  It was somewhat of a distraction to see Utah in the background because I wanted to believe that it was Germany that I was seeing.  People who are not familiar with the Utah landscape will have a better time and not be distracted by this.  There are some great shots taken, and it is fun to see real tanks in action.

Visual FX: 4/10

You have to know that there are not a lot of VFX in Saints and Soldiers: The Void.  The few that they had looked good enough.  This wasn't a big budget film and it is grittier because of that.  The VFX may not have been spectacular, but they didn't distract you from the story.  

Written by: Jon Pardew