Ghosts of War (2020)

During WWII, five American soldiers are sent to a French Chateau to make a stand, not expecting to encounter a sinister supernatural force. 

The “thriller” and “war” genres are indicative from the get-go. Even though it gets quite brutal but also comedic straight after, their arrival at the French mansion brings a certain mystery with it. Admittedly, the introduction of the interior of the mansion is quite spooky and entertaining, decently maintaining the balance between “horror” and “comedy” and, consequently, the audience’s attention. The “Nazi shootout” sequence becomes the film’s climax, with all of us deeply enjoying their vicious deaths. The “facing the ghosts” sequence is also enjoyable and should have given the film its deserved ending. That could be a happy ending, depressing ending, jaw-dropping twist ending… An ending nonetheless. But the filmmakers thought otherwise! Before I move to the ending, I’d like to say that the acting is brilliant and all the actors deserve praise. Excellent job!

Writer/director Eric Bress comes back as a director for his second film after The Butterfly Effect (2004) and does a very decent job up to the point I mentioned. His directing still remains intact after that, but his writing eventually damages the rest of the film. I cannot tell you why without spoiling it for you, so should you decide to watch it, stop here and see for yourselves. You are more than welcome to come back to my review after you have watched it.

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Solidarity for all the innocent lives who suffer the atrocities of war!

Stay safe!

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Spoilers Alert!

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The ending is nonsensical because it tried to copy two films that were similar but successful for their narrative ending: The Thirteenth Floor (1999) and Dark City (1998). These fall under the jaw-dropping twists I mentioned earlier and, back then, gave the films the endings that everyone was talking about after watching them. In Ghosts of War, this is most definitely not the case. It’s like Agent Smith (the ghosts) infiltrated the matrix, and now Neo (Chris) would collaborate with the machines (the scientists) to restore the balance. It could not make less sense.

Other than nonsensical, though, the ending is dangerous. What the filmmakers did here is dangerous. They associated the Nazis with ISIS. They “juxtaposed” their crimes as if that makes them the same. The Nazis and ISIS are not the same. I’m not going to give you a history lesson. Still, when the era is different, the culture is different, the history behind them is different, the motives are different, and then when one atrocity is related to war, and the other (mostly) to terrorism… the comparison is not even wrong, it doesn’t exist. There is nothing to compare.

Filmmakers and studios need to be careful nowadays. They are responsible for what they release, and careers can be ruined in the blink of an eye.