Sejtanov ratnik

Sheitan's Warrior is a total mess, and whole hype and praise it receive is a little bit annoying. The movie is lame mix of futile teen comedy and horror. That's truly awful enough for a start, but the director goes even further with lameness as throwing in various right-wing/patriotic lines in such already disastrous mix. There's lots of urban "humor" combined with suggestive nationalist pseudo-mythology and there's so many desperate tries with even more fails at giving this garbage some kind of social commentary value. There's some people who praise it for it's camp value, but guess what? There's no fun, the movie just plods from fail to fail. The acting is so forgettable and unconvincing, as there's not even a single scene with deep or even real emotions or expressiveness, so the characters are defined just visually. Cool camera and professional mainstream production can't save this movie, as it's totally dire and pointless in itself.

Got it recently on DVD and couldn't wait to watch it. But after 15 minutes of watching it I was so disappointed and bored! Maybe I expected too much by watching a trailer (big mistake). I think this movie is boring and bad. All good about it is that it has special audio/visual effects unseen in Serbian cinematography, and that it's a work of a young enthusiasts. OK, so they got some fancy equipment and they know how to use a Mac G5, but that's not most important thing, because everything else, the acting (except the acting of older Serbian actors), the plot, etc. is bad. The main actors are young and unexperienced (mostly still on academy). A mixture of urban Belgrade life and fairytale with monsters just doesn't work! It just proved my statement that newest Serbian cinematography is definitely not worth watching.

This film is one of the first movies in our cinematography that have VFX, and that is great movement. But that is not all, the story is not ordinary for SCG movies.

It's a fiction that connects our history with real time happenings, and one of the first movies that represents our national heroes in another light ... fiction light ...

It's amazing when you see all that stuff in one peace.

It has parts where you can see how the life was under Turkish empire for five hundred years.

And you can see the beginning of those kids that lived in Slobodan Milosevics time, and what they became.

... that's why I gave mark 10

Keep it up ...

This is a film thought up and executed by a 25 year old University student, Stevan Filipovic. After a fallow period in Serbian cinema, Setjanov Ratnik has been welcomed as a re-birth of Serbian cinematography.

Filipovic worked for 7 years on this project and with a group of fellow students realised a dream only made possible by their joint passion and commitment. They found backers to cover the modest production costs and managed to pay a handful of professional actors to appear in it. When you consider the economic weakness of Serbia, this is remarkable.

Filipovic and a colleague even executed the CGI effects themselves - effects that bear comparison with those of Hollywood movies. The story is complicated and in Western terms not the most original but the treatment Filipovc gives it is very much his own. There is a lot of humour, political satire and references to ancient Serbian history and folklore. If this film ever comes out with English subtitles, be sure you don't miss it. After years of empty cinemas, the people of cities like Belgrade and Novi Sad are flocking in their hundreds and tickets have been sold out since the premiere on April 19th.

Yes, it was an extremely well made movie considering the age of Filipovic, the lack of funds and resources in Serbia. But 7.9/10 for the current average vote!?! Voting for IMDb is not to be taken from the standpoint of someone following the state of current Serbian cinema. Give it a more realistic mark compared to ALL the movies available. It really deserves about the 3/10 I gave it - I would've given it a 2/10, but not for the fact that I need to respect the fact that it was made with great difficulty. The movie did display some excellent hope for the future of Serbian movie-making (and Filipovic's next projects), but it doesn't help that the nationalists won elections the other day... Can't wait for the next round of anti-Western propaganda!... What a waste of a good country - when will they finally wake up and smell the roses?...