Sommerleigh Pollonais – Senior Writer
Ghosts of War had all the makings of an entertaining horror movie with a message. That is until that superbly stupid ending.
Following five American soldiers tasked with holding a French Chateau during World War II, the first two acts of this film are pretty much your standard ghost story. Honestly, I could forgive the predictable story beats, as I think using the backdrop of war for a haunted house tale was a smart choice. The moral questions about the evils of war, the lives lost, and the choices soldiers have to live with, are presented but rarely feel heavy handed, so you the viewer can enjoy the fantastical scares without having to dwell too much on the real life scenarios that occurred.
The acting is strong all around with familiar faces like Theo Rossi (Luke Cage) Skylar Astin (Pitch Perfect) Alan Ritchson (Titans) and Brenton Thwaites (also Titans) as our lead. You know, I used to groan out loud everytime I saw his name pop up in a movie, but he gained some respect because I really like him as Dick Grayson/Nightwing. Sadly, he’s back to being his plain white bread self here but he’s not Gods of Egypt-bad so he gets a pass.
The standout for me here was Kyle Gallner, who has a monologue where he tells a story of not sleeping for five days straight. Not only did it make me smirk (it felt like the writers were giving a wink and a nod to his role in Nightmare on Elm Street 2010) but it was so damn good it lifted the entire movie a notch for me. Think Mickey Rourke stealing the show with that one scene he had in The Expendables. Yeah, just like that.
Sadly the last half of this movie takes a page out of the Serenity handbook. For those who missed out on Serenity, it’s the movie with Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway that starts out like a straightforward thriller and turns into a bat shit crazy mess that includes a kid who creates a virtual world where he gets to make his parents bump uglies. Seriously. Go watch that bag of rabid squirrels and you’ll see what I mean about Ghosts of War and the final act.
What could’ve been a straightforward and fun ghost movie is thrown off the tracks by an overly ambitious ending that makes the solid stuff that came before feel somehow hollow and facetious.
Rating: 5.5 out of 10
For my review of haunted house flick You Should Have Left click here.
Sommerleigh of the House Pollonais. First of Her Name. Sushi Lover, Queen of Horror Movies, Comic Books and Binge Watching Netflix. Mother of two beautiful black cats named Vader and Kylo. I think eating Popcorn at the movies should be mandatory, PS4 makes the best games ever and I’ll be talking about movies until the zombie apoclaypse come.
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Yep definitely agreed with you on this one. That ending was ridiculous and unnecessary. I could barely give it a 4 after that.