The second time is not the charm for director Rod Davis Lurie, producer Marc Frydman and actor Scott Eastwood, reuniting for their second war film after 2020’s excellent The Outpost. Set during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II, Lucky Strike features the same immersive visual qualities as its predecessor, as well as an admirable commitment to be as authentic as possible. But this effort about a soldier desperately trying to survive behind enemy lines never overcomes its oppressive air of familiarity, suffering in comparison to too many war films in recent years (Saving Private Ryan, Inglourious Basterds, 1917, etc.) to which it bears obvious resemblances. And while Lurie’s filmmaking is as assured as ever, the screenplay he’s co-written with Frydman features far too many clichés endemic to the genre.
After a powerful but incongruous opening, shot in black and white, in which we see a platoon of Black soldiers ambushed and massacred by the Germans, the story concentrates on Captain Castle (Eastwood), who finds himself having to travel 30 kilometers on his own through wintry terrain when his unit of white soldiers is completely wiped out. Suffering a leg injury and toting a portable radio nicknamed “Lassie” that facilitates lifesaving communication with the American forces, he undergoes a series of harrowing confrontations with the Nazis, who seem to be behind every corner.
