Defiance

The movie for review today is Defiance which stars Daniel Craig (the most recent James Bond...note this is NOT a James Bond movie!) and Liev Schreiber (who was seen as Wolverine's brother in the newest series of X-Men movies). Craig and Schreiber star as the Jewish Bielski brothers (Tuvia and Zus).

What I loved about this movie...aside from the fact that it was a true story...was that it wasn't your typical WWII film, in fact you rarely saw any Germans in this film. The story was incredibly unique based off of all the films that have seen about this era.

There is a strong conflict that drives the story between the two brothers as the Bielskis are forced into hiding in the woods. Both want to fight back but Tuvia (who is seen as the face of the resistance which makes Zus jealous) is willing to add to their numbers and only take enough to provide for all those Jews that are under his protection and nothing in excess.

Zus on the other hand is more about force and takes some of the best fighters and joins in with the Russian Army, fighting with them but not quite alongside them.

The story is very engaging and there are fits of action as well, but the movie is not all fighting if that is something that you are looking for. I think the film does a great job of showing the frustration of the Jews living in exile...that even when they were "free" they were trapped.

Kozlowski: Why is it so f****** hard to be friends with a Jew?
Tuvia: Try being one.

I was also amazed at the size of the community that they were able to sustain in the forrest and how despite Zus' plea to only take care of family, Tuvia was accepting of any Jew who needed help and how when they continued to grow, they found roles for everyone to take on to help them be able to successfully live in the wild. And Tuvia was also focused on the equality of all and not to take supplies/food constantly from one source or to take more than they needed (which would make them more like the Germans) but he showed compassion and ordered them to take only what was needed for survival. All of these actions are good reminders for how we should live, as to look out for everyone and not act out of greed but necessity.

This is a great film to watch and I would especially recommend it to anyone with an interest in WWII/history that has not already seen Defiance.

4 out of 5 stars.

The Code

So I'm long overdue for a review so here we go:

The first of 2 posts today will be on The Code which for some reason is called "Thick as Thieves" on IMDB but Netfilx and at Redbox both have it listed as The Code so that is what I will refer to it as.

I was not incredibly impressed by this film mainly because the story didn't do too much to impress me (there was a little mystery/twist at the end but it was too little too late). Also for a robbery movie the act of the robbing seemed very anti-climatic and was borderline easy which compared to other films of the genre simply this heist film just fell short.

The other confusing part to this film was the pairing of Morgan Freeman and Antonio Banderas as the "youthful" sidekick. The more the film went on the more I questioned the casting choice of these two together. I have enjoyed many of Freeman's films and Banderas has had his high points as well (my most recent favorite being Puss in Boots) but the combination of these two powerful actors really didn't do anything for me.

This film was rather plain, mildly entertaining...but not much more.

2.5/5 stars.