5 Second Review: Defiance

Edward Zwick of 'The Last Samurai' fame takes on the true story of some defiant Ruskies who hide out in a forest during WW2.

Pros

• The film is shot nicely enough, particularly when capturing Winter time in the forest.
• It's always good to see Liev Schreiber getting work. He's not too shabby, you know...
• Schreiber, Daniel Craig et al do quite an impressive job of handling a lot of dialogue in Russian. They could be saying anything at all, but it sounded impressive to me.
• Ummm...

Cons

• Way too much broody posing.
• A few too many awkward silences. Why haven't you cut to the next scene yet??
• Once the refugees set up camp in the woods, it all becomes a bit Beverly Hills 90210. "Hey, those girls are pretty hot! Lets all pair off with them!"; "Stay away from my girl, buddy!!" and "I was always Mom's favourite!" "YOU TAKE THAT BACK!!".
  
• Frankly, the screenwriter should be shot. These are actual lines:

-Why is it so hard being friends with a Jew?
-Try BEING one!

-We cannot become like them. (nazis)
-No, but we can KILL like them!

• Predictible 11th hour rescue from 'misunderstood' character.
  
• Cringeworthy 'persistantly confused expression' performance from youngest brother.
  
• Swooping string sections at the drop of a bloody hat.

Zwick takes what was no doubt a fascinating, compelling true story and runs it into the ground. Over-directed, under-scripted. I don't think it's too unfair to label this film a complete waste of time.