Shallow acting and prolonged story telling all feel's second hand.

Rating: 4/10 (10 January 2009)

Review:
Defiance is a some what mis-shaped and indecent world war 2 drama that really doesn't do itself any justice. A film which is directed by Ed (Blood Diamond) Zwick usually is worth the watch for, but all Defiance does is give you a bad feel of urgency waiting to be told and directed professionally.
The cast which includes Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell should prepare audiences for a well acted and boldly moving film that one wouldn't want to leave the cinema to quickly to miss. Unfortunately their performances and bonding chemistry on-screen goes down a bad and rough path that ends up with the audience feeling deprived and persuaded into watch 2 hours and 17 minutes of ill-treated acting.
The pacing is definitely an issue which further spirals the film down into the mud. Zwick knows how to direct, but the pacing that we saw in Blood Diamond or The Last Samurai is completely the opposite to in Defiance.
Verdict:
Zwicks failure as a director gives a taste for a failing film that doesn't characterise the characters efficiently nor the story properly. Instead your felt like it's all second hand.