Defiance
is very much an Edward Zwick picture in that it features
adrenaline-pumping action and accurately-portrayed history, but
it’s missing the filmmaker’s trademark fusion of the two
elements. While the movie’s plot may not have lent itself to
such a seamless integration—seen in Glory, Blood
Diamond, and The Last Samurai—the absence is
noticeable in the sharp contrast between the movie’s cumbersome
second act and procedural third act.
Defiance
tells the story of brothers Tuvia (Daniel Craig), Zus (Liev
Schreiber), and Asael (Jamie Bell) Bielski, who led a massive
group of Jews hiding from the Nazis in the forests of Poland
during World War II. The set-up is engaging and does not shy
from moral complexity in depicting the Bielskis’ frequent
stealing to sustain, but it soon gives way to long and tiresome
passages of the growing group of refugees fighting to survive a
harsh winter. However miraculous the true story behind said
passages may be, they feel redundant and overwrought. In the
third act, they are replaced by a bullet-filled showdown between
the group and the Nazis, which is riveting in the suspenseful
way it depicts David-vs.-Goliath warfare, but like so many other
Hollywood action sequences doesn’t have a thought in its head.
While
Defiance would’ve been a stronger movie had Zwick been able
to better mesh the slower passages with the action-filled ones
through swifter pacing, it seems the film’s problematic core
structure was inescapable in remaining true to a little-known
story that deserved to be told accurately. The only clear way
Zwick could’ve improved the picture would’ve been cutting the
sagging second act, which would’ve depicted the grueling nature
of the group’s survival just as well had it been 20 minutes
shorter. As is, Defiance serves as a mostly entertaining
depiction of history with three terrific lead performances and a
stylistically engaging (if empty) final third. And the film’s
grandeur, albeit less refined than that of a typical Zwick
production, makes it worth seeing on the big-screen.
-Danny Baldwin,
Bucket Reviews
Review Published
on: 12.31.2008
Screened on:
12.31.2008 at Pacific's The Grove in Los
Angeles, CA.
Defiance is rated R and runs 137
minutes.
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