Vanderbrew

So, I found this a decent movie - it’s cool that it was based on a historically true event, I learned some new things about the WWII Russian war machine (it had a voracious appetite for one thing) and the story was a pretty good one…but…

I found it distracting that there were times when the music would dip into something obviously recognizable from Braveheart. I checked and, yep, James Horner did the music for both movies.

I found it annoying that every Russian and half of the Germans with speaking roles spoke with an English accent. I’m not sure what accent I would have preferred, but it just seemed out of place. Especially because Jude Law’s accent, turns of phrase and facial expressions really reminded me of someone I know (Alex C, not sure if you read this, but have you seen the movie?). I guess English with a Russian accent would have been preferable - not sure why they didn’t go that route.

I just couldn’t get into the characters. I understand their motives. I see what they were doing, but the acting just felt shallow to me. Maybe it was weak dialogue or unclear direction…I just thought that it was pretty obvious what was going to happen - it just didn’t feel like there was much imagination on the parts of the characters. Maybe that’s attributed to the fact that it’s based on a true story so they couldn’t stray too far from what actually happened, but an article at Wikipedia indicates that the “duel” is not considered historical fact - though Zaitsev’s amazing success at sniping is true.

All in all, I don’t feel like it was wasted time. It’s hard to believe that the Russians were so short on resources that they only issued a rifle to every other man, indicating that the second should pick it up and start firing it when the first died. Also, the idea that you could either attack the Germans and be killed as an enemy or retreat and be killed as a coward were frightening - though I can believe that it happened.

I did find it very interesting that women had such a strong role in front line fighting. They were portrayed as being right out there with the men, carrying guns, killing and being killed. Given the society that Russia was trying to create, it makes perfect sense that they wouldn’t hold any sort of double standard that protected women or prevented them from doing jobs that they were capable of because of a perceived place or role.

In the interests of taking a more active role in my entertainment, I think that I’ll start writing reviews of the movies I watch. This will help me to take a more critical view of them and try to look past the simple images and dialogue to some deeper meaning - and I have to say “Wow. This was a damn good movie to start with.”

Be warned, it is a fairly violent movie and has a fair amount of killing and criminality. If you’re offended by that then I don’t recommend that you watch it. The very brief summary is that two fraternal Irish brothers turn to vigilantism as a means of addressing the indifference they see in their Boston neighborhood. They begin to seek the deaths of mob criminals because no one else, the police included, seem to be doing anything about the issue.

The movie really tries to make a strong point about the terrible tragedy of indifference. In the opening scene, a priest speaks about a woman who was killed 30 years ago and everyone around her simply watched and did nothing. This seems to really strike a chord with the boys and it provides a background for everything else they do in the movie.

Is it right, to kill someone who is evil? Does that make you evil? How do you define evil? I’m not even sure how to address these questions…

The way that the story was told was very interesting. It showed many of the crime scenes after the events had taken place and interwove the site review by the detectives with the shots of what happened.

Overall it was an excellent movie. It had some rough spots - there was one crime scene investigation where Willem Dafoe’s character seemed a little crazy and I had a little trouble with the reality of some of the characters actions towards the end of the movie - but that in no way detracts from the movie. I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend it to anyone who enjoyed LA Confidential and/or doesn’t mind a bit of violence with their moral dilemas.