WWII: Operation Phoenix

Witold Pilecki heroically agreed to go undercover in the Auschwitz concentration camp to smuggle information back to the Polish Home Army. In recognition of his heroism, the Communist government executed him for espionage. Pilecki volunteered for his inconceivable mission. Major Murphy will order two recent Allied escapees to be re-captured, whether they like it or not, as part of a desperate plan to free a spy with critical intel. His team isn’t so “dirty,” but they have Dirty Dozen-like odds of survival in Wesley Mellott’s WWII: Operation Phoenix (a.k.a. Talons of the Phoenix), which releases tomorrow on VOD.

As a protégé of secretive Henry Tasquer Finn, former Continental socialite Katherine LaRue uncovered blockbuster information. The Gestapo burned through their entire network, but she temporarily escaped on a neutral freighter, the John Knight, until a U-boat caught up with her. The Allied brass needs her and her intel, which seems to involve nuclear secrets and shipments of heavy water, but their double-talk always keeps intentionally vague.

Regardless, Major Murphy must devise and execute an unlikely rescue operation, codenamed “Phoenix,” with the help of the all-woman Resistance field unit, who have sheltered the two escapees. To really complicate matters, Captain Rand has quickly fallen for one of his hosts, so he is less than thrilled to return to his former POW camp.

The limited resources really show throughout Phoenix, which is too bad, because it features some surprisingly colorful performances, especially among the Allies. Marcus Lawrence is oddly, but entertainingly flamboyant as Sgt. Major Colin Lackley. Screenwriter Darrin Archer hams it up as debauched Captain Jack Travis, their pilot, whose essentially chose the mission over the brig. Eric Supensky is also more than sufficiently hardnosed as Major Murphy.

On the other hand, the National Socialists are all rather dull caricatures. Even worse, Suzy Aldean’s LaRue sticks out like a sore thumb, in the wrong way. Frankly, a not inconsequential number of the cast-members are not quite up to professional standards—even though everyone is clearly trying their darnedest.

Indeed, we should all appreciate the effort to create a micro-micro-budget war drama. Ultimately, its budget constraints are just too severe and its ensemble is too inconsistent. Given recent events, it is nice to see a film that still remembers America and the UK were the good guys and the Nazis were evil, but WWII: Operation Phoenix is just too raggedy to recommend, when it releases tomorrow (12/3) on VOD.