Defiance

Title: Defiance
Directed by: Edward Zwick
Starring: Daniel Craig, Liev Schreibe, Jamie Bell, Alexa Davalos, Tomas Arana
Genres: Action/Adventure, Drama, Adaptation and War
Running Time: 2 hour.17 minutes
Release Date: December 31st, 2008 (limited)
MPAA Rating: R

Review: This is one of the those movies with a really interesting story and tons of potential; a film which could have been fantastic, but if fell short (by [at least] a mile). Some of the acting is fantastic (Liev Schreiber's portrayal of one of the Bielski brothers comes to mind) and this based-on-a-true-story flick really is gut wrenching at times, but unfortunately, a few details make the whole film Fail (oh, yes, I really do mean Fail with a capital F).
1. Daniel Craig - I know, I know, he's everybody's favorite, but about 5 minutes into the film I wanted to slap him. His flailing between accents (from bad Russian, to British, to American, to a few lines of Scottish, back again to bad Russian) had me groaning every time he spoke, and honestly, I do not know why he was not fired a few days into filming for that kind of actor faux pas? My tip to Craig: Speaking coach. And perhaps, a few acting classes while you're at it.
2. Edward Zwick - I really liked Blood Diamond; that film was absolutly brilliant. This one though, not so much. My first obvious point of complaint is that he did not remedy point number 1 (above). Secondly, this movie really could have been fantastic, if not even brilliant. But Mr. Zwick stumbles when he could have soared, and instead of a great film, we get tired cliches. Bummer. I would say skip this one.

Grade: 4