- Daniel Craig, oh how I love you, Daniel Craig, even with your not-so-great Russian. See: Quantum of Solace for similar thoughts.
- There’s this hilarious facial expression that I really love that he does whenever he’s supposed to be responding to something unexpectedly absurd in a movie. In Casino Royale, it’s the face he makes after Mr. Mendel shows up in Italy with their money, Bond says “You didn’t bring any chocolate!”, Mr. Mendel is all “NO LOLZ!”, and Bond is like “Hahaha, what the fuck?” In this movie, it’s when they’re building a shelter and some random couple shows up and the guy is like “Hi, Double-Oh-Seven, this is my Forest Wife™!” and he’s like “Um… okay… congratulations?” Priceless.
- Speaking of Forest Wives™, I was pretty glad when Daniel Craig finally shot the douchekitten who had been hitting on his brother Asael’s wife all movie. Also, Asael was kind of a cutie and it was satisfying and predictable how he stepped into a leadership role towards the end of the film when they were escaping across the Dead Marshes.
- I imagine that the whistling Russian is supposed to be a substitute in this movie for the usual portly laughing German.
- I watch a lot of Holocaust movies and this is the first time I recall seeing Star of David patches on the backs of shoulders on shirts and coats. Is this common? Is this a system of labelling I didn’t know about or just bad costuming?
- I was surprised it took as long as it did for someone to get pregnant. When the baby started crying and Daniel Craig was like “WHAT. THE. FUCK. IS. THAT,” I nearly died.
- I feel like this movie is trying to play the stats game by competing with Schindler’s List to see who has more descendants of the survivors, Oskar Schindler or the brothers Bielski. I’m not sure that the Holocaust is a competition.
- IMDB says that if I enjoy this movie, I will also enjoy Schindler’s List, Valkyrie, and The Pianist. For once, they’re right!
Defiance
I like World War II movies, I like Daniel Craig, and I like those things when combined. I can’t go wrong with this one.
IMDB Plot Synopsis Four Jewish brothers in Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe escape into the Belarussian forests, where they join Russian resistance fighters and endeavour to build a village in order to protect themselves and about 1,000 Jewish non-combatants