Battle Recon: The Call to Duty   Starring: Scott Martin, Clint Glenn Hummel, Tony Pauletto, Brandon Davis, Johnny Kios, Riley Litman and Alberto Frezza Signature Entertainment www.signature-entertainment.co.uk RRP: £5.00 Certificate: 18 Available 26 December 2011

Prior to the allies’ invasion of Sicily, a specialist recon group has been captured by the Nazi’s. Aware that the mission could only have been compromised by a spy, Lt. Allen Wright is charged with the mission to free the first team. But there is a secret mission, which only Wright is aware of…

Battle Recon: The Call of Duty (2011 - 1 hr, 37 min, 28 sec) is a war film written, directed, and staring Scott Martin. It’s a low budget, straight to DVD affair, but is it any good?

There is always a problem with vanity projects, whose control rests so much in the hands of a single person. They usually turn out bad. Whilst, this is not the best movie you will ever see, it is not a complete disaster.

The script is generic and provides few surprises. It’s the usual fare of war movies, with a bunch of guys off on an impossible mission. The lead, of course, gets to have a little love interest on the side, before the hero wins and the villain is revealed.

The quality of the film is variable, with nice cinematic shots followed by others which look like they were filmed in the local dunes. Because they cost nothing, there is extensive use of forested locations. The acting is likewise variable, with some nice muted acting juxtaposed with some appalling over-the-top posturing, primarily from the Germans.

The film was provided as a screener, so although I can’t say what the quality of the final product will, be the screener was very sharp. If it was filmed on a digital camera, it was a good quality one, as the picture has the clarity usually associated with film. The screener contained no extras.

So, the best that can be said about the movie is that it was okay.

4

Charles Packer