Mission of Honor - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Mission of Honor

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

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Movie
World War II is kind of a personal cinematic niche of mine, and I make every effort to watch any film about the time period for my own enjoyment. When I heard that Mission of Honor was coming out I was intrigued with Milo Gibson being one of the main characters (yes, the son of Mel Gibson), as he’s proven himself to be a very stable actor for the minimal roles he’s been in so far, and I was even MORE intrigued when I realized it was about the 303rd Royal Air Force (RAF) squadron. The 303rd RAF squadron was made up entirely of Polish fighter pilots who came over to help the British fight off the Nazi invasion after they got obliterated by Hitler’s Blitzkrieg attack of Poland. It’s a fighter squadron I knew a little bit about, but had never seen them put forth into film before, so I was more than eager to check out what director David Blair could accomplish. What unfolded was a solid story, with a good cast and some impressive action, but one that was slightly hampered by the low budget and some cohesiveness issues.

The film opens up in 1940 France, as Ian Zumbach (Iwan Rheon), a polish resident, is making his way across France after Poland has fallen to the German forces. Heading to meet up with his polish combat friends in England he manages to steal a German plane thanks to a bit of manipulation and skulduggery, and makes it over there where he and his Polish friends have asked to join the British RAF. Even though they had only been a freestanding country for about 20 years, the Poles were a proud people and were willing to do what it took to take back there country, even if it meant humbling themselves and fighting with the British to do so.

The Brits are a bit snobbish (which doesn’t seem to have changed much over the centuries) and consider the Poles to be supbar to the famous Royal Air Force, and nobody really wants to take them under their wing and show the Polish pilots how to fly British Hurricane fighters. John Kent (Milo Gibson) is given the “unfortunate” duty of whipping the pilots into shape, only to find out that they can fly better than most of the RAF. As is the case with these movies, the pilots have to overcome a few hurdles to get there, but soon become one of the most elite squadrons in the entire RAF, out shooting pretty much everyone and getting the most kills of any squadron to date.

The film kind of extrapolates some drama out of thing air, having Jealous fights between the Brits and the Poles, as well as fabricating a few romantic liaisons as well. However, the real fun stems from the aerial combat sequences throughout the film. However, there’s some issues as the combat shots are done with some mediocre choreography due to budget constraints. The ships tend to fly straight at each other instead of actually engaging is evasive maneuvers, and the end result looks a bit stilted and staged. Then there’s David Blair’s direction. He’s got a decent handle on things, but he has a few issues with keeping things cohesive, and has a tendency to jump from scene change to scene change before some of the other scenes are completely fleshed out. it’s not wild, but it’s noticeable and feels a bit stilted.

Iwan Rheon turns in another great performance and Milo Gibson really shines as Kent. He’s a solid lead character, and while he doesn’t have the charm or skill that his father has, he’s leagues ahead of several other children of big name actors who are trying to make a name for themselves (Scott Eastwood comes to mind as being notoriously painful compared to his dad). The best part of the movie stems from the bittersweet ending (which is actually quite true to life) and leaves you with his sad sensation of loss, even though the film was riding so high up until those final moments. It fits in with the feeling of depression and lack of fairness that stems from a true war. The movie isn’t perfect, but it’s a solid WWII drama on a low budget.




Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA




Video:

Shot digitally with the ever popular Arri Alexa cameras (this time the Mini) and finished at 2K, Mission of Honor looks very nice on Blu-ray. The film has been stylized to fit the WWII era, and has a distinctly blue and earthy look to it’s color grading, and the film can be mildly soft at times. Some of the CGI aerial combat sequences look the most soft, while down on the ground detail levels are significantly higher. The colors are cool and slightly bland, but there are a few splashes of primary colors up in the sky, or at a club party. Blacks are crisp and clean, but sometimes they do look a bit washed out due to the color grading. Some mild banding and crush are present, but overall this is a very solid looking 2.39:1 framed Blu-ray.







Audio:

The highlight of the film is easily the 5.1 DTS-HD MA audio mix. While it’s not a fancy schmancy DTS:X or Atmos mix, the 5.1 track really puts the surrounds and LFE to good use. The front of the room can take up a large portion of the “on the ground” scenes, which are naturally a bit front heavy, but once the film takes to the skies things really kick into high gear. The sounds of Hurricane fighters scream from all directions, and the gunfire and score really kick up the bass throughout the film. It’s a high energy track that really excels with being aggressive and immersive from all angles. My only “complaint” is that the accents can sometimes be little thick and I had to rewind a few shots once or twice to hear what was being said. Otherwise a very solid two thumbs up for the audio.






Extras:

• Q&A Session with director David Blair
• On set with Iwan Rheon, Milo Gibson, Rosie Gray, Stefanie Martini, and Emily Wyatt

Final Score:
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Mission of Honor is a great effort from David Blair and crew. The acting is well done, and the film itself delves into a subject that doesn’t get a lot of play in a lot of WWII films. Blair shows a few short comings in his production, but the limited budget gave him very little wiggle room to make a movie about fighter pilots (something which could have benefited from a few more dollars), and while the action could be a bit shaky, the subject matter is quite enthralling. The Blu-ray from Cinedigm is very solid, with good video and great audio, but the extras are a bit weak. All in all, it’s a fun watch and makes for a solid movie watching night despite some hiccups.




Technical Specifications:

Starring: Milo Gibson, Iwan Rheon, Stefanie Martini, Krystof Hadek, Marcin Dorocinski, Manuel Klein, Raphael Desprez, Rosie Gray, Emily Wyatt
Directed by: David Blair
Written by: Robert Ryan, Alastair Galbraith
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH
Studio: Cinedigm
Rated: NR
Runtime: 129 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: April 30th, 2019

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• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Good Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. Will check it out.