Defiance [movies]  

At its core, Defiance has enough going for it that it could've been a captivating movie in a small, humble sort of way. With Liev Schreiber and Daniel Craig at the top of their games, the movie just needed a bit of inspiration to push it over the top. Unfortunately, no one was there to give it that push.

The story about a group of Russian Jews who chose to hide in the forest and fight back against the Nazi regime is couched in the dichotomy between two brothers, Tuvia (Craig) who believes the key to survival is maintaining their humanity amidst the pain, and Zus (Schreiber) , who follows a blood for blood mantra in his pursuit for vengeance and survival. While Craig builds a village in the forest with those Zus believes are too weak and inconsequential to fight, Zus fights alongside independent Russian brigades bringing the fight directly to the Nazis. From there, as you can guess, the good and bad of both sides are shown, as both stories converge into one, as both men begin to realize that neither side is completely right (WHAT A TWIST!).

To say this movie is obvious would be an understatement. There isn't a single memorable shot in this movie, full of violins swelling as Craig and Schreiber stare off into the distance or clumsily shot gunfights where the emotional impact comes from the fact that (gasp) someone kills a man in cold blood. The discussion on the value of life versus the necessity of death is an interesting one that's completely wasted in a black and white portrayal of the subject. We get it, neither side is right, and that in times of such desperate measures, tough decisions must be made. The only problem is, we've seen it done in a WWII context at least...well, a billion times, and done way better than this. What makes it even more frustrating is that Craig and Schreiber are so amazingly watchable in their roles, the movie actually cobbles together a couple of scenes that hook you, giving you a glimpse of what this movie could've been if someone would've taken the time to inject some subtlety into the story. But director Ed Zwick's shown in his previous movies (Blood Diamond, The Last Samurai) that he's capable of making a perfectly mediocre movie, even when given an interesting subject matter. The pacing badly sags, the characters take bizarre emotional turns, and and the conflicts are set up so haphazardly, that they leave no emotional impact whatsoever.

If you want to see Craig and Schreiber put on some great performances in a movie that doesn't deserve it, by all means rent Defiance on a lazy night. Otherwise, I'd venture to say that it's not worth your time.