Hurricane (Mission of Honor) (2018) --- "In Foreign Skies They Fought For Their Country"

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Hello, Movie Buffs!

     Directed by David Blair (The Messenger) and written by Robert Ryan and Alastair Galbraith, Mission of Honor (2018) follows the true story of Hurricane Squadron 303 during World War 2. In 1940 England stands alone against the growing stain of the oppressive Nazi empire that is quickly spreading throughout Europe. Many of England’s inhabitants are nervous about what the future may bring, but a handful of brave individuals know too well what future they face should England fall. They witnessed Warsaw burning, Poland crumbling, and France surrendering. They are Hurricane Squadron 303, a group of daring and brave pilots from the Polish Air Force. However, the British don’t trust them have given them and as such are given almost-obsolete planes and RAF. Regardless, once they were made operational, they quickly proved what they could do, out-gunning their enemy and out-scoring their allies. They fought to keep England free from the Nazis. They fought to keep the memory of their young country alive; a country whose modern form only existed for 20 years before being invaded. They fought because they knew that if the Luftwaffe isn’t stopped then France, Poland, and Holland would become Hitler's hors d'oeuvres. But not everyone will make it to the end and not all friendships will survive but perhaps new ones will form.

     The best part about Mission of Honor (2018) is the fact that it was made. Even as a history buff myself, I was not aware of the innovative contribution the Polish air pilots made in WW2. They were treated like rock stars with groupies and parties, that is until the American’s joined the war and their service became less needed. The story is exciting and emotional, and the character performances were relatable. The film highlights different fighting styles between the British and the Polish. The British pilots flew in formations that made them more accessible targets for the enemy, while the Polish avoided this approach by breaking formation in order to hunt enemy planes more freely. In addition, the Polish pilots often dramatically attacked the enemy in a game of aerial “chicken” which panicked the unsuspecting enemy pilots.

      The cast performances were great. Welsh actor Iwan Rheon (Game of Thrones) is great as the leading man Jan Zumbach 'Donald’, Milo Gibson (All the Devil’s Men) proves to be just a good an actor as his father, and Stefanie Martini (Crooked House) added a feminine touch to an otherwise male-dominated film. The rest of the cast – Krystof Hádek, Marcin Dorocinski, Manuel Klein, Raphael Desprez, Robert Portal, Marc Hughes, Matt Malecki, Kamil Lipka, Radoslaw Kaim, Christopher Jaciow, Rafael Ferenc, Slawomir Doliniec, Adrian Zaremba, and Filip Plawiak – also gave good performances.

     Now while this film is well made with a solid script and great performances, however, there were some instances of missed opportunity. For instance, they could have clarified the ill-treatment the Polish pilots received from other officers, why they were so successful, and why they were dissed from the big post-war celebration parade. The latter could have easily been explained with a few more lines of dialogue or pre-credit epilogue that would have clarified that the Polish were excluded in order to appease Stalin, who now had control of Poland.

     Overall, Mission of Honor (2018), despite some missed story point and a few plot holes, was an entertaining and sometimes quite funny war film about one of the most daring RAF Squadrons of WW2. Audiences will clearly see the difference between the Polish pilots and the British pilots both in the air with their different fighting techniques and on the ground in how they experience life. Not to mention the cast performance, especially with the Polish pilots, were great and fitting. Despite its low rating (5.9/10) on IMD, if you enjoy war-based films then you are sure to enjoy this one. Besides, I think it hould be given a chance.

Final Vote --- 6.8 of 10 stars

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