Reviews

Kelly's Heroes is one of those films that appeals to the imaginative and the emotionally grown up. Never meant to be taken as a serious look at War itself, Kelly's Heroes is never the less strongly themed and morally centered. It's all about breaking away, anti establishment and anti war values - all of which perfectly echo the time it was made - 1970. To judge it in any other way is to totally miss how the film was meant to be taken. This is a film that leaves one with a sense of, 'anythings possible'. It also makes the point that War can be totally absurd. There are some amazing War films out there that should be judged on their accuracy and ask serious questions, this however, is not one of them. It's actually a heist movie at it's heart, with the satire of the War as an overlay and setting. The characters are beautifully developed and wonderfully interlinked. The comedy scenes are great, the production values high, the story face paced and fun, the direction and editing good. sit back and enjoy that rare event in the film world - a pop corn film with a heart.

For a film that I have just read cost £20k, it was brilliant. however, i feel that certain areas not to do with how much it cost needed some attention! The script needed a bit more clarity and development. I thought the editing wasn't as tight as it could be - there needed to be more pace. But the sound, camera work/lighting were fab for its budget. Generally he got some high production values in - The fight scenes were choreographed pretty well too. I feel filmmakers like this should be encouraged, and I hope he finds a good team to help him out next time - he does deserve some decent funding. It's a very imaginative first attempt - well done! People like him should be helped out in the British film industry more. It's refreshing not to see yet another boring low budget drama or 'gritty' movie - they always seem to get made. It just goes to show that in this case low budget doesn't have to mean boring

If good acting, an unusual and very realistic story line are what you're after, this has it. And just for the record its very romantically shot and scored, and the battle scenes are cool. The script is well crafted and developed. I enjoy it whenever I'm feeling escapist, but don't want illusions! A tall order - but this film does just that. The medieval story transports faithfully and accurately to another time, making the watcher forget the present without any of the camp, glamorized, contemporary touches that so often accompany films set so long ago. Please - if there's anyone reading this who can - bring out a DVD!

Gritty Dramas are not usually my thing, but I saw this by chance and was very impressed by it. It's nearly impossible to make a first feature film. It's nearly impossible to make it good on as tight a budget as this was obviously shot on. The fact that it was made in such a short time is also another factor to be considered. And my consideration, after taking all these factors in to account is, this is brilliant! It is a strong story with plenty of moral interest, it has strong performances and a nicely done twist. I wish Paul every success with whatever he does next! He is a directing and writing talent to watch out for!

It's a shame that such serious subject matter was ruined by such bad direction and a terrible script. The concept of The Europa deals, and the plight of the Jews in WW2 are great and worthy subject matter. But here, they were developed into a wooden, ill developed, emotionally immature, corny script, which I felt was a crime against the film industry! Sadly I have to say the same about the direction - who was telling who the story? ( What unbalanced story there was!) It was muddled, heavy handed and corny. My heart goes out to the actors who played the Aryan Couple. They struggled valiantly throughout, but even with the obviously good skills of both, ( Kenny Doughty, Caroline Carver) this old fashioned dinosaur of a film struggled to get going. The best bits were when they were on the screen, which to my opinion was far too little. Both deserve much better.