Not Zwick's nor 2008's best but overall good...

Rating: 8/10 (28 January 2009)

Edward Zwick is one of my favorite directors because he captures stories brilliantly whether it is about the 54th Massachusetts in "Glory" or an American in Japan with "The Last Samurai." With "Defiance" he captures a story that I had never heard of during WWII but it makes it interesting. His movies always border on the issues of morals, survival, and emotional melodrama, yet I felt somewhat detached to this film.
The acting was good, particularly on Liev Schreiber's part who is absolutely fearless. Daniel Craig also pulls in the best performance of his career. The contrast between the two characters is great to watch. Schreiber's character is driven by vengeance and tactics while Craig's character is more about trying to keep things organized and a strong believer in discipline.
The other actors are all right, making good characters, but for some reason I did not care for them as much as I did with the previously mentioned films above by Edward Zwick. I did not feel moved by the movie more or less cried. James Newton Howard's score added some oomph to the film in emotion, but music can only go so far. The movie also kind of developed a stereotype of the Nazis as evil, invaders that "we do not speak of" that must be avoided in the forest like in Shyamalan's "The Village".
I was also surprised that this received the R rating. Most of Zwick's films are R rated and for good reasons but this was rather tame. I don't deny the high body count though. I guess it got the rating over Schreiber's occasional f-bombs. Anyway, "Defiance" is a good film that explores a unique story that maintained my interest for all 2 hours and 17 minutes. It has exceptional performances and some promising action sequences/shootouts, but it does not hold up as one of Zwick's nor 2008's best movies.
My rating: *** out of ****