What's the matter with war movies of late? All of them seem to be emphazing the "human element" over that of strategy, in an attempt to say "look at how war is bad" and then cash on it anyway.This one joins the bandwagon. I starts well enough, with a fast prelude and great bombardment scenes (the sound aspect is well done), notably with a superb CGI rendering of Schleswig-Holstein, the old battleship that fired the first shot of WWII. If it continued that way that would have been a fine movie indeed.But then it gets lost in the details, and slowly, gradually, comes to ignore all strategical aspects to concentrate on the opposition of officers and contemplation of the soldiers' sordid stuff that made their days. Screen time is lost to insignificant episodes (like the hallucinating parts) while the spectator is held in ignorance of everything tactical. We don't even heard about the USSR also invading Poland at the same time.Otherwise, pictures are beautiful, the sets and costumes are superb, the actors are okay and the music is fine.

The topic fascinated me, and seeing Polish soldiers in action is such a rare treat that I just had to buy this film. Unfortunately, many important action scenes happen off-screen, and we are just told about them later.It almost seems as though the director was embarrassed to make a "simple" action movie, and so felt compelled to engage in psycho-drama to fill out the tale. I liked most of the actors, though, as an American, I was unfamiliar with them. I liked the sets, weapons, uniforms, and so forth.Overall a disappointment, but a nice try.

"If we go to war no one will back us up." September 1st, 1939, the Polish city of Gdansk is an important port city that the German's are looking to take control of. Trying not to scare the entire country the army decides to send a small group of 600 soldiers against the Germans with only one goal, hold out for at least 12 hours. When it becomes clear that no support is coming for them and with dwindling supplies and medical aid they have to decide to fight till the last man falls or surrender. This is a true story of the first battle of WWII. This is not a terrible war movie at all and is worth seeing but it is pretty slow moving and the war scenes leave something to be desired. The movie is interesting though and really makes you understand what the Polls went through in the beginning of Hitler's advance but it is just a little too slow in some parts to stay fully focused on. Overall, a true war movie that is worth watching but don't expect wall to wall excitement. I give it a B-.

The movie is boring. Many well known actors doesn't help at all. They can't express action and fight of WWII. Action is chaotic. Soldiers most of the time have trouble with rifles almost like they use it first time in their life. German soldiers attack from 20 meters and they do not see polish soldiers? What do they think? Special effect are very bad and you can see they are low budget. Movie is missing camera shots from distance and panorama views of Westerplatte. Dialogs are primitive. Behavior of soldiers is nonsense. No big scenes of fight, just few people with guns. It's one of the worst movies I've seen. All this movie can be cut to 15 minutes and still will be boring. It's bad not only comparing to world standard, but also compared to other polish productions. Do not watch it.