Manic Expression

Nazis. 67 years after their defeat and they are still the go to guy for those you want to see lose (except in the case of The Sound Of Music). Video games are of course the latest medium to exploit the fact that besides from zombies, Nazis are the only group that it is generally acceptable to kill in nasty ways. Seriously, how many complaints have there been against WWII games?

Movies however have moved away from Nazis as the big bad, instead going for greedy bankers or beardy Middle Easterners as the biggest threat to the Western way of life. However this little indie flick brings the Nazis back from the moon.

Now Nazis are always a controversial topic and for good reason. This film was no different in attracting outcries of poor taste and other wailing and gnashing of teeth, but the target of the rage was. Almost everyone who saw this film had something that the film was anti. Most popular being anti-black, anti-white, anti-semitic and the biggest complaint was that it was anti-American.

Now the only thing that this film is anti is politics. Although the Sarah Palin-esque American President came off worst, it was still a brilliant satire of Hollywood's view of the world and the European view of America as a very gung-ho country. Her quote of 'America always wins, watch the movies, the movies never lie!' is the perfect summation of any Hollywood produced disaster movie. The president is always calm and collected throughout the crisis, the military mops it up with no outside help and there's always hope. If you compare the NBC nuclear war miniseries 'The Day After' with the similar BBC production 'Threads' you'll find that although 'The Day After' had it's moments of grimness, there was still a modicum of hope at the end. 'Threads' however bites into you like a rabid pitbull and never lets up. The fact a lot of history was changed in the movies still steams a lot of British veterans too (particularly those of the Burma campaign).

Even because of this, the film can't be labelled as anti-American, every nation gets both barrels. All the delegates in the UN Operations room are stereotypes. There's even a hilarious moment where the North Korean delegate is laughed at when he suggests his country is responsible behind the moon Nazi attacks.

To be fair, I think that people who can't recognise satire when they see it should just be banned from watching this film. It'll save my forehead from constant facepalms and head desks as I read just how dense people can be. All the references are great, the acting is a bit crap, but in a movie that takes the concept of Nazis on the moon and runs with it (as well as a pair of scissors dipped in TNT too) as a joke, I'd expect the B-Movie feel. They all look like they're having fun anyway.

So if you're into the subversive humour showcased on Have I Got News For You and Spitting Image, this film is for you, you'll have a lot of fun. However if you take The Onion at face value and watch FOX News then you'll get nothing from this film and should avoid it like the plague.

6/10 Nothing special, but a nice little satire.