Title: Jackboots on Whitehall
Director: Edward & Rory McHenry
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Rosamund Pike, Richard Griffiths, Alan Cumming, Tom Wilkinson, Richard O’Brien, Timothy Spall, Dominic West and Richard E. Grant
Running time: 91 minutes, Unrated
A British satirical take on what if the Nazi’s invaded England during World War II and the English have to band together with the help of Scottish highlanders, a Frenchman and an American pilot who thinks he’s battling Russia….and the actors are all puppets.
Like most people, I loved Team America; however this was not even in the same league. It looked like a long…long episode of Robot Chicken, but with a bigger budget. All the female puppets looked like Bratz dolls, but without the freakishly large heads. I’m using the word “puppet” loosely, because there were no strings like in Team America; the eyelids and moving mouths were computer generated.
It was meant as a satire, and I took that with a grain of salt; although some political and historical references were clever, I found myself rolling my eyes a lot of the time. The only parts where I actually laughed out loud were the Braveheart references and jabs at Mel Gibson’s career, and that was around the last 20 minutes of the film. The American pilot Bobby Fiske was on the annoying side and I was disappointed that they held back on him being such a dumbass. If the Brits want to poke fun at Americans, go all out. The French guy was cooler than the American, and I think a lot of Yanks are going to take offense to that more than being portrayed as a trigger happy idiot who just can’t be killed.
The final fight scene is a small reward after having to sit through the lot of the film. The Nazi deaths were quite gruesome and creative; I also liked the Nazi “hotties.” However these parts didn’t make the movie any better.
The DVD extras include behind the scenes footage, interviews with the creators and featurettes about the celebrity voiceovers, explosions and the Nazi hotties.
Jackboots on Whitehall is definitely not for everyone. There’s a quote from a critic on the DVD cover stating it’s “Team America crashing headfirst into Inglorious Basterds.” The only accurate comparison is that Team America has puppets and Inglorious Basterds has Hitler; other than the connection is a major stretch.
Total Rating: D
Reviewed by JM Willis
