Female Agents

The French know a thing or two about making quality period drama but don't assume they get it right every time. The Hollywoodification of French cinema has led to faintly ridiculous concept films like this one, where five female resistance fighters waltz about getting into improbable, dangerous scenarios whilst juggling womanly themes like relationships and pregnancy. It's not a badly shot film but the script and characters are not up to par with past successes of WW2-themed cinema. Forgettable.

What starts as an intriguing (if somewhat sluggish) inversion of a 60s 'boys-own' war film turns unexpectedly brutal and nasty in its second half, as the focus shifts almost obsessively to graphic torture methods which are difficult to watch. The cast is game, with Bleibtreu a stand-out as a sinister SS officer, but the needlessly convoluted and confusing plotting ultimately makes the film a mild ordeal.

Annoying characters, sappy story. Even Cruise was more convincing as a Nazi officer than Bleibtreu. Mixing up WWII thriller and girls with guns sub-genres might be interesting, but execution is bad.

Good Movie