As a military analyst might put it, Hart’s War suffers from a lack of clear objectives. It starts out fine as a story of a young man’s initiation into experience — the German surprise offensive in the Battle of the Bulge sweeps spoiled senator’s son Lieutenant Tommy Hart (Colin Farrell) from a cushy HQ post to a pit full of massacred GIs (director Gregory Hoblit has talent for economic visual storytelling and powerful imagery) and subsequent capture and interrogation by the Nazis. After establishing this beachhead, however, the film stumbles in various directions ranging from The Great Escape to A Soldier’s Story to A Few Good Men as Hart ships out to Stalag VI, where he’s joined by a pair of African-American pilots, one of whom is accused of murdering a redneck POW. The POWs’ cranky commander, Colonel McNamara (Bruce Willis, with one expression fitting all scenes), appoints Hart as the accused’s counsel in the ensuing court martial, and no wonder Hart has a hard time making his case, since at this point it’s impossible to tell if this film is about racism, hypocrisy, power, guilt, justice, sacrifice, or just whodunit. Clarity comes, surprisingly, from the camp commandant, Colonel Visser (the delightfully depraved Marcel Iures). "A court martial, like in your American movies?" he asks cheerily. "That should be fun!" If only.