There is something deeply admirable in trying to honor the lives of the international resistance in France(some of who also fought in the Spanish Civil War) during the Nazi occupation, showing that the struggle was bigger than any one country. At the same time, they fed into Nazi propaganda by almost confirming that there is an international Communist conspiracy, thus the title. If contradictory impulses was the biggest fault of "Army of Crime," there still might be enough to salvage here, but a distressing lack of focus and depth dooms the movie to mediocrity. "Army Of Crime" starts with a roll call of the dead with several characters in custody, allowing French authorities to impress the Nazis when it comes to torture.(Anybody who receives a compliment from a Nazi is surely going to hell.) Rewind to 1942 when French Jews feel they have little to fear yet and Germany has just invaded the Soviet Union. In response to that, Marcel Rayman(Robinson Stevenin) has taken to the streets to paint hammer and sickles to show his displeasure of the occupation with his friend Henri Krasucki(Adrien Jolivet) occasionally in tow, before escalating to acts of violence. But none of that is as interesting as the story of Missak Manouchian(Simon Abkarian), a survivor of the Armenian genocide and resistance leader, his life allowing the movie to make a direct connection between atrocities. Sadly, he disappears from the narrative for stretches, allowing for other business to take center stage like assignations and swimming meets, not allowing any narrative momentum to build.

Long, flat telling of hardly an original tale of WWII French resistance. It tries to encompass so many characters that it fails to develop any of them beyond stock stereotypes.