Clunky writing and some odd directing choices...

Watched last night on Netflix. Average work from a supposed high-calibre director...

i. Heavy handed foreshadowing.

The minute the French girl mentions she was in the country to clear landmines I knew that someone would die from a landmine. Later as Pigeon Toes unnecessarily shuffles backwards as he's talking, I told my wife:
"A-N-N-N-D here comes the landmine." Seconds later... BOOM!

(I must be sick... when I saw him there staring in shock at all his missing limbs, I could only think of the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz lying on the ground with all the stuffing removed from him...)

ii. Extraordinary coincidences.

The son digging a latrine just happens to hit a gold bar.

When the landmine explodes, the landmine team just happens to wander in from stage left.

Stumbling across the remains of their former leader.

iii. The 'ring around the rosie' cliche where the supposedly tight team come apart as, one by one, each guy comes clean about his failings. A few minutes of bickering. Move on to the next character. Rinse and repeat.

iv. Characters are weirdly inconsistent/ illogical.

The landmine team watches their friend get killed. Minutes later they're all good with joining the gang to share the gold, no further discussion of their dead pal. (I think she sheds a few tears but gets over him pretty fast...)

The son suddenly gushes to the French girl about his mother's miscarriage and death. Weirdly the French girl has this ear-to-ear grin. Wut?

Buddy throws himself on a grenade to protect the others. Minutes later they're all standing around talking and nobody gives this guy a second glance or comment... and HIS RUINED BODY IS LYING RIGHT THERE AT THEIR FEET! My wife and I laughed out loud at this point.

Lindo's character vacillates wildly in his feelings about his son between scenes without much rhyme or reason.

v. Humour is misplaced / forced.

The "Ride of the Valkyries" bit. We see what you're doing there Spike Lee. It's only mildly amusing and goes on way too long.

The bit with the 'token black Trump supporter in the rally scene' is brief but seems more like a throwaway from a Tarantino movie.

vi. The use of mixed screen ratios and faux-tape noise.

I get the mixed ratio bit -- to distinguish past from present -- but the faux-tape look seemed to come and go between time periods.

The colours at times were super saturated which was distracting. I'm not sure what the creative thought process was behind that.

Not the epic that I was expecting based on reviews.