'Miracle at St. Anna' review

Michael EaIy and Valentina Cervi (Credit: David Lee/Disney)

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Four black American soldiers are separated from their platoon in Italy during WWII—noble leader Aubrey Stamps (Derek Luke), troublemaker Bishop Cummings (Michael Ealy), radio operator Hector Negron (Laz Alonso) and gentle giant Sam Train (Omar Benson Miller, channeling Michael Clarke Duncan in "The Green Mile"). They take refuge in a Tuscan village, where Stamps and Cummings bicker over lovely local Renata (Valentina Cervi), Train bonds with a shell-shocked young boy (newcomer Matteo Sciabordi) and all four soldiers lend a hand in fending off Nazi aggression.
 
Big question: Does Spike Lee's first war film match the lofty heights of his other historical epic, "Malcolm X"?
 
Skip it: There's an interesting story buried somewhere in here, especially in the rarely documented lives of black soldiers. The challenge is finding it through the narrative tangents and half-baked melodrama.

Catch it: For a clear understanding of the language barriers involved in war. The characters speak English, Italian or German, but only a handful are fluent in more than one, and much confusion ensues.
 
Bottom line: Overstuffed and sentimental to a fault, "Miracle at St. Anna" finds Lee surprisingly off his game with an ambitious project that aims big but achieves little. The director's best films feel electric and urgent, but despite a few welcome touches of his trademark style and solid work from Ealy, Alonso and Cervi, this "Miracle" is a misfire.

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