Parents' Guide to Lucky Strike

This small-scale war movie avoids earth-shaking events and focuses mainly on one character and self-contained episodes, using strong storytelling and nimble filmmaking for an emotional result. With Lucky Strike, director and co-writer Rod Lurie (here credited as Rod Davis Lurie) re-teams with Eastwood after their successful collaboration on The Outpost. Shifting from the war in Afghanistan to WWII, Lucky Strike has the same fluidity as that film, as well as some of the same flaws; aside from Castle, it's often difficult to tell who anyone is or tell them apart from one another. It also edges slightly into self-importance. But Castle's solo journey—inspired by a true story—is constantly captivating, operating in chapters or like a collection of short stories. Some of the episodes are almost comic, as when Castle, piloting a stolen tank, is faced with a stray dog in the road (Eastwood's glaring reaction at the end of the scene is not unlike that of his father Clint). Some of the bits are almost mythical—for example, involving appearances of a mysterious white horse. And some are like mysteries, as when Castle meets another American, but the way he smokes a Lucky Strike cigarette reveals something alarming about him.

The movie opens on a striking black-and-white sequence that depicts a squad of Black American soldiers driving a truck through fog, determined to complete their mission. This relates to a wraparound sequence in which Castle meets with a Black woman, Mrs. Caldwell (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor), for a reason as yet unknown to viewers. When all is revealed, it has a surprisingly touching effect. Lucky Strike may not be a masterpiece, but it's a journey worth taking.