Though I bought the DVD of Age of Heroes (2011) a while back, it was only recently
that I finally got around to seeing this movie.
Full disclosure, I bought the DVD because Sean Bean is one of the stars
of the film, and I really enjoyed seeing him in another true story, Bravo Two Zero (1999). There was also the extra bonus of being the true story about the real Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond novels, and Sean
Bean’s connection with Bond having played Agent 006 in GoldenEye (1995).
The basic storyline takes place during World War II. Ian Fleming, played by James D’Arcy, was then a
real life British Naval Intelligence Officer who commanded and helped create an elite
squad known as the 30 Commando Unit. It
was Fleming's task to train them to recognize sensitive enemy intelligence
materials and plan strikes to obtain them. Sean Bean plays Major Jones, who I believe is
also based on a real person, and he is tasked with identifying and training the
men who will be part of this elite force.
In this story their mission, Operation Grendel(?) is to go into a Nazi
occupied part of Norway and retrieve sensitive Radar equipment, not only to
disable it, but to bring back the new technology.
The film starts with the story of misfit soldier, Corporal
Rains played by Danny Dyer, being insubordinate to a superior and landing in
military prison. Through a series of
unbelievable coincidences he ends up being given another chance by Major Jones
(Sean Bean) and joins the elite corps. We meet the soldiers as they train for
their mission, but the script gives us very little about them as individuals
except for Bean and Dyer’s characters. I wish there would have been more
character development so we would care more about the men and what happens to
them. Once they parachute behind enemy
lines in snow covered Norway nothing goes as planned and they struggle to
survive and accomplish their mission. The film is action all the way at this
point but surprisingly there is something dated and unexciting about the action sequences.
Major Jones is the “tough as nails outside but fair and
caring inside” character that Bean has played before. He does a good job with what he’s given and
is always a presence on screen. There is
an interesting but small scene in the film with Bean’s then wife Georgina
Sutcliffe playing Major Jones’ wife.
Danny Dyer is also the star of the film and plays the troubled but
heroic Major Rains well, but is not enough of a personality to carry the
film. William Houston, who played
Boucher in BBC’s North & South is fun to watch as the squad’s tough sergeant. James D’Arcy is wasted as Ian Fleming with what seems an extended cameo. We get
little of Fleming’s story here which would have added much needed interest to the
film.
It is clear at the inconclusive end of the film that this is
just chapter one of the story. I believe
they are or were going to be three or four films in total in the series. Actually this would have made a better
television series than a series of limited release films. Worth watching mostly if you’re a fan of Sean
Bean, Danny Dyer, James D’Arcy or James Bond.
There are several extras that come with the DVD and more
interesting than the film is a documentary that includes interviews with several
of the real veterans of 30 Commando Unit.
