Defiance

I ventured out yesterday to go to a Sunday matinee of the new movie Defiance, starring Daniel Craig. Despite the woman behind me who spent the first hour trying to clear her throat at 3 minutes intervals, it was a good time. But, I need to stop buying the big soda. The movie stretches from August of 1941 to April of 1942 and I had to pee around December. It's not a very long movie, but it just felt that way to my bladder.

The movie tells the story of three brothers who are hiding from the Germans and keep taking in other people on the run, until their camp in the woods is a couple hundred strong. It's like Schindler's List meets Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Overall, I liked the movie, though it wasn't what I expected. The trailer made it seem as if it was going to feature a lot of action, almost like a Red Dawn-type movie (obviously with better acting). Turns out the action in the trailer is about all there is in the movie. Instead it was a slower pace, more deliberate. Went in expecting an action movie, but instead it was more about perseverance, morality and survival.

I was probably aided by the fact that I dated a Jewish girl for two years, cause there were certain references to the religion that would definitely have gone over my head if I hadn't. I know this cause Franny had no idea what they were talking about and had me explain stuff in the car on the way home. This movie also receives bonus points for being filmed entirely in Lithuania, the fatherland. Though, this won't do much for the tourism of the country, unless you have a need to look at a lot of trees, cause that's all you really see here.

This was the latest Hollywood movie based on a true story, which tells me the DVD will probably feature a documentary that is far more interesting. Also, they showed pictures of the real-life brothers at the end of the movie and you realise how odd a choice it was to cast Daniel Craig. I like him as an actor, but when they showed a picture of the camp there wasn't a blond hair in sight. They probably went with it because, honestly, who can turn down a guy who's last two Bond movies had $50 million opening weekends?

At the end of the day it was a movie that had explosions, swearing and a hot girl, so I wasn't disappointed. If you were thinking about seeing it, you should make your way to the movies.