By Simon Thompson
Director/co-writer James Peakman’s horror-sci-fi-comedy amalgamation Operation War Thunder is an endearingly low budget outing which I wanted to enjoy far more than I actually did. Sadly, thanks to issues with its script, and some of the acting from the supporting cast being somewhat lacklustre, it falls pretty short of the mark.
The plot of Operation War Thunder follows two estranged brothers named Gary (Andrew Simpson) and Tommy (James Peakman). Caught in varying extremes of dead end misery, the two brothers are reunited by the news of their father’s death, which forces the two of them to travel back to their childhood home so that they can find the Will that their dad left. What’s lurking in the house however, is something worse than anything the two of them could have imagined.
Andrew Simpson and James Peakman’s script for Operation War Thunder, to its credit, is pretty funny in key places. Imbued with a dry sense of humour reminiscent of Viz Magazine, and Edgar Wright’s early movies, but with a dash of Shane Meadows-esque melancholia, Operation War Thunder is a typically British comedy in the sense that it’s about a couple of underdogs who, in one scene, are quite literally crapped on from a great height. Despite the influences of Edgar Wright and Shane Meadows being all over the script, however,the comedy is original enough.
Although the acting from Peakman and Simpson is perfectly competent, it’s the supporting cast whose inexperience sadly hinders the movie. While Tina Costello – who isn’t an actor at all-does a passable job as Gary’s irate boss, Sam Lord in her role as the odd neighbour Mrs Wells seems to struggle as a screen actor – which is understandable given that this is her first screen role.
The third act of Operation War Thunder is where the movie completely collapses. Although the film hints at its sci-fi elements at first through comedy (e.g the law firm that tells Gary and Tommy about their dad’s death being named Heinlein and Asimov, and Mrs Wells’s full name being Helen Geraldine Wells) once the monster the start hints at is introduced the film changes its tone far too quickly.
Now a change of tone is fine if you have about an hour and 35 minutes to work with, but at a taut 74 minutes Operation War Thunder gives itself no time at all to set up both a stark tonal shift and slightly more information about what the alien wants – or why it’s on Earth in the first place.
Overall, Operation War Thunder is a likeable enough science fiction comedy and if you go into it with low expectations you’ll find something to enjoy. Judging it as a complete three act structure however, it is a movie which leaves a lot to be desired in its narrative construction.
Bloody Flicks 