Laikals The greatest movie ever made..!

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Edwin The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Staci Frederick Blistering performances.

Grant Bullert "Defiance" had potential to be a truly gripping and emotional film, but its lack of depth and less than impressive technical production caused it to fall a bit flat.-Analysis of Notable Work- *Writing/Directing: The story is one of survival and selflessness. It has the workings of a masterpiece, but it felt more as if it was trying to fill all the check-boxes for cliches in a WWII/Holocaust film. The brothers are at odds half way through the film, there is an old man who says it is hopeless (he is proven wrong), there is a weak character who shows strength in the time of need, etc. This wouldn't be a problem on its own, but each of these moments feel forced, and that is why they fail. Edward Zwick delivers moments of greatness, but much of his direction seems to lead this film into areas that have already been well-explored. *Cinematography/Editing: Eduardo Serra puts in average work in this film, enough to get the point across. The camera placement and movement makes us feel like we are in the moment for most of the film, yet other times it feels out of place and as if there was no real goal for telling a certain part of the story visually. There are too many close-ups in this film, which actually takes power away from the characters because it makes the close-ups feel unimportant. The color palette works well; it appears cold and washed-out which adds to the feeling of death and hopelessness the Jews must have felt. The editing is effective and simple. It has its ups and downs. At times there are too many shots of people being hit by bullets that it loses its weight in the storytelling. But overall, the pacing is even and serves the story well. *Dialogue/Acting: There are moments of brilliance and power in some dialogue and monologue scenes. Some characters give inspiring speeches and some scenes feature dramatic face-offs. However, much of the dialogue written for the supporting cast and extras is rather clunky. The delivery of the extras and supporters does not help matters. When it is brought to the audience's attention that the people on screen are, in fact, actors then it takes away the power of the film. A great film can have the audience convinced throughout the entire film that the characters are authentic people. Liev Schreiber and Daniel Craig deliver adequate performances, but nothing more. They hold the film above water, but do not make it soar. *Music/Sound: The music is subtle for much of the film, but it delivers power to the necessary scenes. It does not try to gain the audiences attention, and it serves the film well by doing this. The sound design is one of the strengths of the film. It provides a sense of realism all the way through, apart from maybe one or two scenes. *Production Design/Special Effects: The costume design and set pieces/props feel authentic and serve the story well. It is easy to get wrapped up in the feel of the 1940s while watching this film. The practical effects are impressive and another of the film's strong points. The visual effects/CGI are less powerful and end up hurting the film. One of the most poorly done parts of the film is when the German planes come through to bomb the Jewish refugees. This scene should terrify us, but it more-so looks laughable.*Conclusion: "Defiance" delivers an impressive story, but not the best way it could have. The end result is worth watching, but not life-altering.

Dan Ashley (DanLives1980) What with all the stories told from every faction of WWII and how everybody trounced those pesky Nazi Germans, things can get a bit formulaic! Defiance is a war era drama that takes a different stance, in fact it takes two; standing with one foot in the campgrounds of the Russian Partisans and the other in the camps of the Jews who dared to escape into the woods of Belorussia and Poland to survive the Holocaust.It sports some finely crafted drama, though not perfect. It just does the best with what it has and thankfully it has authenticity and great acting on its side, despite some shortcomings and incidences of overstepping the mark.Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber play the two older brothers of a slain Jewish Belorussian family who flee with their younger siblings into the woods, chased not only by Nazis but the police forces of their own communities who have sided with the enemy.One brother goes on to lead the growing number of escaping Jews while the other - ostracised after rising tensions - joins the Partisans.The story is sometimes sporadic in its delivery of drama and incidence, meaning that one theme is sometimes forgotten for the sake of a bit of action. Don't get me wrong, some of the action is superbly done, but I felt that there were some rushed scenes.While all very well executed, I feel that Defiance suffered an occasional conflict in direction and style, but most viewers might not even notice this.Craig and Schreiber's Russian is spot on and at times even seems playfully competitive, which adds much needed chemistry to such an ambitious tale of family. Jamie Bell is also on form.Overall a fine effort, even though I felt it might actually have had more impact were it half an hour shorter.

Ole Sandbaek Joergensen This is a beautiful movie in many ways, also a very violent and sad one.The story in itself is a good one, it has it all, friendship, love (both brotherly and family), fighting, war and a lot more.The sceneries are very good, there are scenes in the forest that are really special and beautiful but only in the quiet moments. The war scenes are very rough and dirty as they should be.The cast is very good in this movie and to see a good danish actor in it was, well actually a surprise, I didn't know Iben Hjejle was in this one. I'm not a big history fan, but movies that are good, based on true events always make me want to find out more and read up-on-it :)

alvarius777 Before I give my criticism, here are the good things: 1) costumes are good. so are all the props. 2) camera work is good 3) as a generic movie, it's not bad Now to the things that to me, make this movie a piece of crap. ABOUT 80% OF THE STORY ARE LIES! And while I don't mind Hollywood fiction, this is going beyond that. The Bielski brothers in the movie are given credit for AT LEAST twice as much as they actually did. AND the crimes they committed are never mentioned. To me, as a Pole, this is unacceptable. Germans are shown in WW II movies as the bad guys.. killing, abusing, torturing etc. Yet in this case, the "heroes" weren't that much different. The bielski brothers sided with soviets and abused and persecuted the Polish people. They helped the soviet military and police hunt down, capture and execute almost 200 of polish resistance fighters from the A.K. (Armia Krajowa - National Army) who fought for free, independent Poland against BOTH the soviets and Germans. They took part in AT LEAST 2 documented civilian purges, and raided the victim's belongings and homes afterwards. Yes, they did help other Jews. But they did it by committing war crimes and numerous other atrocities on the Polish civilians and the underground freedom fighters who only wanted their nation free and unbound by foreign occupants. In that aspect this movie is AN ABSOLUTE LIE, spreading false information and made up facts, romanticizing criminals and abusing the memory of the people who died by their hand and as a result of their actions.