5 Days of War

It's kind of unsettling reading some indignant reviews written in 2011 by people who described this movie as "shameful anti-Russian propaganda".

Fast forward to this wretched June 2022, after over 100 days of Russians waging war against Ukraine and you know that the Russians did everything showed in the movie and some more.

Apart from showing the aggressive, merciless attitude of the Russian and the tragic results, especially tragic when you hear the people interviewed at the end, the plot must necessarily focus on a small story, otherwise it would have been a documentary.

Rupert Friend is Thomas, the tough and silent war reporter caught in the Georgian-Russian conflict with his operator Sebastian and some locals, among which a pretty young girls named Tatia. Those who watched Homeland probably remember the attack launched by mistake against a group reunited for a wedding and here we have a re-run along the same lines that sets the plot in motion, which is perhaps not too wise.

Other defects of the script are the silly chess game between Thomas and a Russian commander and the usual evil and brutal antagonist bent on his personal revenge, which in the chaotic scenario of the movie seems very far fetched.

Apart from some over sentimental touch, the movie is more than ever a chilly reminder of disaster that may strike at any moment. Perhaps not the best war movie but realistic enough.

but a primitive story is too much of one-sided pro-Georgian propaganda.

Good Georgians, bad Russians and nothing in the middle.

Well, AFAIK Georgian government sponsored production so it wasn't for free.

Don't try to learn the history of the conflict after that.

Cold War is back. Seems like Rembo from the 80s but lacks Silvester to save the day.

On the other hand it doesn't look like a typical B-movie it could be considering it's screenplay.

Director's work is good, acting is not too bad. Special effects is nice too excluding cheap gasoline explosions.

Worth watching anyway.

Well, all kinds of things went wrong with this movie.

For starters, the opening sequence is awesome. One thing this movie really had was best camera crew ever. Everything feels very intense all the times, very close to the real war footage. Also, all the props, vehicles, uniforms, even explosions look very real. This is the good part.

The mediocre part is main story. It's a mix of Hotel Rwanda and Tears of the Sun, but feels like a bootleg version, a cheap knockoff of those.

And then there's the bad part. Just after awesome intro, you get "treated" with shots of Tbilisi, with landmarks, people smiling, and god forbid, trancey music in the background. It looked like a commercial for some travel agency, with only "Visit Georgia" message missing from the scene and was most tasteless thing I've ever seen in a film. I live in similar post-soviet country and I do understand the mentality in desperate desire to explain your culture to the world to get less looked as some remote hellhole, but this is outright tasteless and maybe Georgia hasn't come to this yet.

The script had generally no direction. Awesome war scene here, some corpses there, cameramen and photography director knew what to do... But director didn't. First, that simple shot with church and bloody river from 'Tears of the Sun' gives 10 times stronger emotion than whole pile of bodies shown in '5 days of August'. Even though latter tries sooo hard to portray Russians as savages.

Second, despite awesome camera and props, fighting had no point in this movie. You see soldiers shooting stuff and each other, but it's unclear why or what's their plan. I don't think any people who had any idea about how soldiers and military works were on the set. Mi-24 choppers shooting random buildings with rockets? And here I thought that every pilot is given orders and targets to waste expensive munitions on... Also, MI-24 sports a deadly cannon, but it's used only once, missing everything, and soldiers act as chopper had blind men for pilot and gunner, not taking cover. Tanks constantly missing targets and not using machine guns? Taking down a chopper with a single LAW rocket? SU-bombers taking down a restaurant residing in basically nowhere? This all felt very bizarre and pointless.

I could go on, but there's no need. Let's just say that this movie is very average, has some good moments, lots of unmemorable moments, and some outright stupid ones. So pick it up from bargain bin, but don't expect too much.

6 stars I give are for 2 reasons: Awesome camera work (it felt like live action at places) and the fact that despite being incredibly dumb, this movie IS entertaining... and that's good, even if it's for all wrong reasons.

...as for amount of propaganda, this movie is 100% okay, considering what comes from Moscow. Sure it's all bloated and overrated but this is how we rock in those former USSR satellite countries. Even 50 of such movies can't counter a single evening news show from random Russian TV-channel. For westerners, you just have to accept that rules are different, but watching all those Normandy landings in every Hollywood movie and video game, maybe not as much as you might think.

Based on fact, I'm not familiar with the actual events, and therefore cannot comment on the film's accuracy on the matter.

Regardless, despite mostly negative reviews from critics, I enjoyed '5 Days of War'. I found it very exciting from an entertainment perspective. The film's action sequences are visually stunning. To add to this, the cinematography and photography are also really good.

Rupert Friend stars as a reporter, who lost his girlfriend on a previous mission. Moving on, he is once again on a mission to find the perfect story. Val Kilmer stars as his informant, Dutchman. Along for the ride is his friend and cameraman, Sebastian (Richard Coyle). There's a hint at a love interest here in the form of Tatia (Emmanuelle Chriqui), which - fortunately - never develops. The result is a film that is fast-paced, concentrating only on the events around the war.

I didn't find Andy Garcia believable as President Mikheil Saakashvili - not his accent, nor his performance. I think this was the only element about the movie I didn't like. The film illustrates the danger reporters face for the sake of a story, and also shows the horrors and brutalities of war. There are a few disturbing scenes. Considering the actual war in Georgia on which the movie is based, its unbelievable to think only five days caused so much death, destruction and mayhem...

I've watched '5 Days of War' a few times already and enjoy it every time.

Would I watch it again? Yes.

"We came here to cover a war, if we don't get a story this will all unfold unseen." This is an emotional and sometimes tense movie about reporters in Georgia during the war with Russia. Thomas Anders (Friend) is an American journalist sent to document the growing tension between the two countries. When war breaks out it is up to him to report and get the truth out. This is a movie that is pretty moving and tense, but also very slow. A mix between battle scenes and the reporters dodging bullets trying to stay alive long enough to get the story out to the rest of the world. If you like movies like the "Bang-Bang Club" this will very much appeal to you. I did enjoy this movie, but it seemed like it was just not quite as good as it could have been. The cast was great and it was a very good movie, but it had the possibility of being better. I'm not sure what it needed though. Overall, a good movie that could have been better. I give it a B-.

*Also try - Bang Bang Club