5 Days of War

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Myself

2nd film today that I had to seek out in order to see. Like The Eagle, it's only showing in one small cinema once a day. Ahh well. Still better to see at the cinema, I say.

Renny Harlin is a name that seems to have fallen by the way-side in recent years. Although I did quite like Twelve Rounds. Now he turns his hand to a bit of political propaganda, a true story that he manages to make kinda boring, despite all the explosions. There's a lot of explosions.

I think the biggest problem with this film is the score, the music just does not fit in a lot of places and it greatly affect the mood and tension. It just falls flat.

As far as I know, this is Renny Harlin's first digitally photographed feature as well. It shows in a lot of places, highlights are clipped, grading can be uneven at times and most slo-mo shots are very blown out. Most of the time it's not too bad but they seem to be jumping formats in some action sequences and it shows.

The cast do an ok job. The strange romance between the leads does not work at all.

The propaganda issue is hotly debated. I don't know enough about the events or the production, all I know is the Schindler's List style interview felt very pandering and awkward. I did not like that at all.

There were some ok bits but they didn't form a cohesive whole.