May 1, 2025
by Carla Hay
Directed by Michael Day
Culture Representation: Taking place in 1944, in Massachusetts and briefly in France and Pennsylvania, the dramatic film “Fog of War” features an all-white cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: An American military pilot is sent on a secret mission to the 100-acre Massachusetts farm of his fiancée’s wealthy family, in order to find out who’s a Nazi spy on the property.
Culture Audience: “Fog of War” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of World War II movies, but this poorly made film looks about as real as an American Reichsmark.
“Fog of War” is a misguided World War II drama that is polluted by a terrible screenplay and cringeworthy acting. It’s a weak and boring story about a U.S. military pilot sent to spy on the farm property owned by his fiancée’s wealthy family. The fiancée is a spy too: She’s an agent who works for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), which the pilot knows about but frequently overlooks in his amateurish investigation. The movie plot’s mystery is too easy for viewers to solve.
Directed by Michael Day and written by Luke Langsdale, “Fog of War” takes place in 1944, in the weeks leading up to D-Day. The movie begins by showing Lieutenant Gene Lewis (played by Jake Abel), a pilot in the U.S. military, getting shot down with some colleagues somewhere in France. Gene is able to escape capture and is rescued by French Resistance fighters. Some of his military colleagues aren’t so lucky: They are either captured, murdered by Nazis, or died in the airplane crash.
While Gene is recovering in a Pennsylvania hospital, he is visited by Captain J.F. McVean (played by Greg Nutcher) and a U.S. intelligence agent named Alexander (played by Thomas Weismuller), who send him on a secret assignment. Gene has to go the 100-acre Massachusetts farm property owned by the family of Gene’s fiancée Penny Duncolm (played by Brianna Hildebrand), to find out why suspicious telegraph signals and radio signals are being transmitted from the farm, which is known for having heavy fog in the area.
Penny, who is a loving and supportive girlfriend, does not know about this secret mission. When she and Gene arrive at the farm to temporarily live there, they are greeted by her uncle Bob Duncolm (played by John Cusack) and Bob’s wife Maude Duncolm (played by Mira Sorvino), who both raised Penny because Penny’s widowed mother died by a falling from a cliff when Penny was a very young child. The Duncolm family doesn’t like to talk about this tragic death.
Penny’s military father died during World War I. Bob is rich enough that he doesn’t need a “regular job,” so he paints art in his leisure time. Bob (who is an elitist snob) privately tells Penny that he doesn’t trust Gene, and he doesn’t think Gene is good enough for her. Penny is defiant and tells Bob that she wants to marry Gene, no matter what anyone else thinks.
The farm’s chief worker is a Belgian immigrant named Viktor (played by Géza Röhrig), who lives on the farm property and who becomes Gene’s prime suspect for the spy activities. Gene doesn’t trust Viktor from the beginning because Viktor was standoffish to Gene when they first met. In one of the tense conversations between Viktor and Gene, Victor tells Gene that he left his wife and daughter behind in Belgium to find work. Now that the Nazis have occupied Belgium, Viktor says he’s worried about his family in Belgium.
“Fog of War” is so unimaginative, the movie doesn’t show any other workers on the farm who could be likely suspects. Gene meets two friendly neighbors named Jock (played by David B. Meadows) and Jocelyn, who tell Gene that the death of Penny’s mother has been the subject of gossip because although the death was officially ruled an accident, there’s been speculation the death could have been suicide or murder. Jock has a mixed reputation because although he is helpful to Gene and others, Jock has also been in trouble with the law in the past for being drunk and disorderly.
“Fog of War” plods along with hokey dialogue and very wooden acting from most of the cast members who are never convincing in their roles. Abel is especially stiff in his scenes, while Röhrig gives the least terrible performance of the principal cast members. Sorvino shares top billing for “Fog of War,” but she’s barely in the film (her screen time is less than 15 minutes), and she looks slightly embarrassed to be there. Cusack and Hildebrand give performances that veer from looking bored to being so over-the-top, it’s embarrassing to watch.
If you’ve seen enough spy movies, then you already know that there will be plot twists. What appears to be obvious is usually a plot smokescreen or red herring. “Fog of War” is the type of horrible movie that can cause brain fog because it because it’s a forgettable flop that is so stupid, it can kill some brain cells of anyone who wastes time watching this dreck.
Decal released “Fog of War” on digital and VOD on April 4, 2025.
