WWII From Space (2012)

An Exercise In Nonsense

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

It sounds like a B Movie title but it's not. At least it's not supposed to be. It's a new way of looking at the events of WW II, offering a global perspective of land, territories and battles.It's very USA-centric - guess who made it - and starts with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour which brings America into the war. Ok, let's go with that.However, it skips backwards and forwards in time to look at various events of the war. This is annoying at best and is confusing. How much better if it had simply followed a linear path and let us see how the war developed as it played out.Given the limitations of a movie's length, however, it is very much a potted history so there's nothing radically new or in depth here.The view from space is a nice idea to help visualise the global scale of the conflict. However, often when dots flash up on a swiftly-rotating globe of the world to highlight cities and countries, far from illumination, they're simply blobs in a fog because some landmasses are obscured by cloud! As it's CGI-generated this is folly beyond redemption. Someone obviously thought it added a sense of realism but it simply detracts from the movie's admirable goal. Not all scenes are like this, just enough to spoil some of the movie's intent.Essentially, it's just another WW II documentary. It has nothing new to add, it's very USA-dominated and it doesn't achieve what it sets out to do particularly well.

This movie would have you believe that WWII started at Pearl Harbor! Nothing of what happened before seems to matter, the USA were not in it! So forget about WWII, this movie should be called: the USA in WWII, with an overview of what the lesser players did too. Of course explaining WWII in that short duration would be a challenge, but in this case it seems to go for a lot of over simplification, the imagery is very gimmicky too and doesn't really add anything. The "from space"perspective, is no more than a marketing trick, there isn't anything new there and it doesn't add to the comprehension more than moving maps etc... that we've had for decades.Painful to watch if you know anything about the subject.

WWII was nearly over when I was born, and among friends and family I grew up around veterans who had done the fighting, had killed, and who mostly did not talk about their experiences. During those years and the years after, I was exposed to a lot of material about the war. But I realized how fragmented my understanding was as I watched this unique presentation. When it was over, not only had it filled-in all the blanks, it also gave me an understanding of the incredible effects WWII had on this country when it ended. For me, it was an interesting and educational film that was not one minute too long. (This and Band-of-Brothers may be all you need.) BTW, the film goes along nicely, then at some points the screen will go black for a couple of seconds, and when the picture returns you might feel like it jumped ahead (it had me rewinding to see what was skipped). But it is just a story-telling device that I began to recognize and not worry about, as the movie comes back together nicely. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Absolutely amazing piece of work. I have watched this documentary twice, and I still think about it every so often. It gives a whole new perspective to the war as a whole. My second viewing was with my dad, who is a World War 2 buff, especially in Pacific knowledge, and he loved it. Now, admittedly, the documentary brushes over some finer details of certain battles (as I learned from my father), but it does not detract from the overall picture. For example, at the Battle of Midway the documentary glosses over the tactical details of how the Americans easily defeated the Japanese carriers (as my dad mentioned to me while watching). If you are a serious WW2 buff, you would know that and probably be upset. As guy from the Millennial generation getting a scope of the battle, it is not a big deal. You just have to remember that they are trying to fit in a 6 year war in 90 minutes.I never really studied the war as a whole, with regards to how it affected global politics after the war was over, or why certain decisions were made with regards to geography, or how it affected politics locally in America. For example, before watching this I would have said "America dropped the atomic bomb on Japan solely because the Japanese were relentless and refused to surrender". Now? After watching this with some global geographic politics shown to the viewer? My answer is "America dropped the atomic bomb on Japan for two reasons, Japan was relentless and refused to surrender, and because they needed to prevent the Russians from defeating the Japanese". I realize my answer is quite overly simplified, and I can guarantee that there were 100 other reasons as well, but this global space map production really shows events in a whole new light that is hard to grasp from a high school text book.Thanks to the power of technology, they really paint the global picture and educate the viewer very well. If I had to say, it was like watching Total Annihilation (PC Game), WW2 style. They use such cool sounds and graphics which really makes you feel like you are in a PC RTS game, no joke. For example, they use virtual maps with digital shading and digital lines to show movement and route plans and force positions, something that you certainly can't get from a textbook.If you watch only one World War 2 documentary, I would suggest this one. The 90 minutes goes quick, they really take their time detailing the global scope of the war, and they cover things that include not only the battles themselves but the ancillary events that occurred to make the battle (or victory, or loss, or whatever it may have been) possible.