Film reviews
Men In Black 3
It’s not a sequel that needed to be made, but thanks to the charm of its leads and a tone that harks back to the wit and humour of the original, it’s a pretty enjoyable trip.
Bel Ami
The excellent female support cast saves this patchy effort, which is let down by its leading man and a flat screenplay.
The Dictator
A disappointing, often repulsive and mean-spirited mess of a film with seemingly only one real criterion on its agenda: to shock and offend.
The Woman In Black
Packed with atmosphere, this old-fashioned but deftly told ghost story delivers ample chills and thrills.
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Defiance (Film)
Rating: M
Running Time: 136
Country: USA
Director: Edward Zwick
Cast: Jamie Bell, Daniel Craig, George Mackay, Liev Schreiber
Distributor: Roadshow
Release Date: April 30, 2009
Film Worth: $10.50
FILMINK rates movies out of $20 - the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth“…starts shakily but gets steadily more engrossing.”
Set in 1941, this is the true story of three Jewish brothers who escape from Nazi-occupied Poland into the Belarussian forest. The two elder brothers, Tuvia (Daniel Craig) and Zus Bielski (Liev Schreiber), are the key players, and their intense relationship - with all its attendant sibling rivalry - is as central to the drama as the tragic events of the war itself.
The brothers' parents have been murdered by collaborators. In next to no time, Tuvia has summarily executed the killers - among other people - and indeed the film's secondary theme is the brutalising effect of war on all involved. It's a syndrome of which Tuvia is agonisingly aware. He and Zus attract an ever-expanding group of fleeing fellow Jews of both sexes and all ages, and (led by Tuvia) they hide out in the woods, where they bond, squabble, fall in love, periodically fight the Germans, and plan to build a village. Zus for his part joins up with Russian resistance fighters to further his cause and confront the common enemy. He soon forms an uneasy friendship with the Russian commanding officer as he becomes more involved in the struggle.
Both Craig and Schreiber handle their accents credibly enough, and have a predictable quorum of presence.
Defiance starts shakily but gets steadily more engrossing. It's a reasonably compelling heroic/epic yarn with gripping battle sequences, and it's briskly directed by Edward (Blood Diamond) Zwick. It's burdened, however, with superfluous sentimentality, a couple of awkwardly handled love stories, and tritely stock minor characters - including a bespectacled intellectual and a cynically philosophical rabbi with a twinkle in his eye. And its subject really has been done to death.
