The “desert island” survival movie gets a new twist with Lucky Strike, a low-budget World War II actioner which ultimately shows that perhaps we’ve officially run out of stories to tell of our greatest generation. Yes, the film – directed by Rod Lurie, who also co-writes the screenplay with Marc Frydman – is based on true events, but the commitment to telling a historically accurate story never feels as essential as Lurie likely wants it to be. Perhaps the film would have been better served by turning up the ludicrous stakes and action set pieces, throwing caution to the wind, which Sisu successfully trafficked in recently. The body count remains quantifiable, and the hero’s quest for survival never reaches the desperation necessary to feel truly engaging, so we’re left with a by-the-numbers period drama which feels like it’s getting by on the simplicity of its elevator pitch.

That aforementioned hero is Captain John Castle (Scott Eastwood), a member of the 324th Engineers whose blandly-defined unit is ambushed, leaving him as the sole survivor behind enemy lines. On its way is the legendary, but equally blandly-defined First Panzer division. We’re told, but not shown, that this particular division is “the worst of the worst”, and our band of ill-fated soldiers take a certain pride in the opportunity to take them out. Once Castle realizes he’s on his own, Lucky Strike sees him venture across the countryside in search of an extraction point, and armed only with a bulky but functioning radio.

Lurie continues his fascination with American soldiers surviving against the odds after The Outpost, but Castle isn’t enough of a compelling character to anchor a mostly solo film as he loosely hangs onto his humanity. Eastwood is fine enough in the role, but he’s saddled with a blank slate and asked to carry the majority of the film. It would probably help the energy of the film if he had more harrowing obstacles to overcome; we mostly see him encounter straggling Nazis scattered across random farmhouses, which he executes without much difficulty. The environment is a factor – this is Belgium in December 1944 after all – but he only has to travel 27 kilometers (about 16 miles for the mathematically challenged).

There’s a hint of a theme around survivor’s guilt, which Lurie and Frydman reach for in the third act, but it never feels like a big priority. Indeed, finding any priority within Lucky Strike feels fraught. Is this a rah-rah ode to the men who saved the world from the Nazis? Is it a brutal survival thriller? Is it a character study of a man against the elements? Somehow, the film is all of these things, and none at the same time. We learn that Castle technically was exempt from enrolling in the Army, and with a wife and son at home, what could he gain from shipping off to die halfway across the world? Unfortunately, Lucky Strike never really feels obligated to answer this question, and Castle’s isolation leaves little room for a dialogue.

Those hoping for a low-budget Saving Private Ryan mashup with Cast Away won’t find the action spectacle from the former, nor the inherent danger of the latter within Lucky Strike. Even its title feels random; the titular cigarette brand almost plays a more important role than the radio Castle uses to survive. The result is a wasted exercise that never really justifies its own existence.

Roadside Attractions and Saban Films will release Lucky Strike in theaters nationwide on June 26.

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