The story starts when Lieutenant Tommy Hart (Farrell) is captured while on a supposedly safe mission driving a higher ranking officer around in a jeep. Hart, a second-year law student from Yale, is assigned cushy jobs because his father is a senator. After a brutal interrogation, in which he may or may not have revealed certain military secrets, Hart is sent to a prisoner-of-war camp in which Colonel William McNamara (Willis) is the top ranking American officer. McNamara, a graduate of West Point and a fourth generation soldier, is itching to get back into the thick of combat, but it looks like he is destined to rot in the camp until the war is basically over.

Although the camp is nothing like the one in "Hogan's Heroes," it isn't quite as harsh as one suspects it would have been in reality. The commandant is certainly an unusual character. A graduate of Yale and a lover of "Negro jazz," he is absolutely delighted when someone is killed and McNamara insists on a full-blown military tribunal, complete with days full of evidentiary proceedings. Gleefully, he tells McNamara that it will be "like in your American movies." And, it is.

The movie begins to come apart as it reaches its conclusion. Several actions, major and minor, aren't credible. If you're flexible enough about suspending disbelief, however, few of these flaws will matter. The well-timed message of the movie, about the meaning of honor, is certainly one that resonates.

HART'S WAR runs 2:03. It is rated R for "some strong war violence and language" and would be acceptable for kids around 12 and up.