Recensioni de* critic*

Unfortunately, Perry drenches the tale with his trademark syrupy ineptitude, creating a gloopy, turgid plodder. It doesn’t help that the performances are wildly uneven...

What’s particularly frustrating about Perry’s take on this battalion’s story is the inherent poignancy their story holds. Even with his misbegotten creative choices, you can’t help but be touched by the unwavering spirit of these Black women. And to be sure, Perry does a great service bringing their history to viewers. You just wish he’d performed the last full measure of devotion by empowering a Black woman to tell this implicitly powerful story instead.

The Six Triple Eight is about people who received no public recognition for their achievements at the time, but in trying to give them their belated due onscreen, this clunky excuse for a war movie ends up being more about what they endured than about what they accomplished.

The drama lands many of the beats of the Greatest Generation genre and its subgenre: Black service members battling on two fronts. But familiarity doesn’t halt it being illuminating and affecting. What initially strikes Major Adams as a menial assignment at best, and a setup for failure at its bigoted worst, becomes a near-sacred operation. And when it does, the film finds a reach-for-your-Kleenex grace.

It’s the kind of movie that could be charitably described as “educational”, though probably not as much as the magazine article that serves as its source material. At least we know Perry is true to history in one major way: today, as was the case back then, these women deserve better.

This film gets rightfully sentimental in many ways but does tend to overdo the cheesiness... Ultimately, “The Six Triple Eight” is one of those crowd-pleasing films about a special group who defied the odds that almost anyone can enjoy. Despite its flaws, its emotional performances from Washington and Obsidian will keep viewers locked in until its heartwarming ending.

An entire film that focuses on untangling this organizational mess clearly exists, but Perry would much rather lean on trite platitudes that state the obvious again and again, rather than trust the “boring” nuances of the historical record. From beginning to end, “The Six Triple Eight” never trusts its audience to actually engage with the material beyond its inspiring surface, evidenced by a lengthy coda featuring title cards that literally restate the film’s plot over archival footage of the 6888th Battalion. Unsung heroes deserve better.