Defiance

There was a great gaping black hole where any skill that could have been was lost entirely. I am at a loss for words of how terrible the direction in this film was. In fact, this goes for everything in the film. The filmmakers' had spunk, I'll give them that. It takes a lot of guts to let someone put your name on the credits of a movie like "Defiance." The acting (with a partial exception) was exponential horrible. It sucked harder than Mega Maid. (It is an absolute torture to watch Tony Twist in the role of Nathan Cross--he brings the same boring nothingness to the screen that he spurted for Blues on the ice!)

And another thing, the villain was the worst in the history of cinema, that's including all B-movies. You couldn't take the guy seriously. I admire the actors who didn't crack up just by watching him act. At first, I thought this film was a comedy, then I realized they were trying to be serious. That made it all the more hiliarious, if you add, 'under the sheets' to every line that the horny old guy, the villain, and the narrator said. My friends and I had a good ol' time tearing every line apart, limb from limb, adjective from noun. Speaking of lines, the dialogue was some of the worst ever written. It just fused together with the terrible acting to create a great busty beast of performances where it felt as if they were just quoting memorized lines with no emotion whatsoever.

Only complaint: I saw this movie. From the first scene, it felt like something I would see if I handed a camera to a couple of horny old men and watched them go into my backyard and starting filming something which I cannot put into words. That's what this film means to me.

All in all, frustrations and failings aside, this indie sucked.

-7/10

This movie was likely one of the ten worst movies I have ever seen. It quite seriously looked like a high school class project, though the actors were a bit too old to expect in to be in a high school class project, the script and dialog were rank, and it was delivered about as poorly as it was written. The production values were non-existent. Character development was extremely limited. Some of the makeup looked as if it was applied by teenage girls. The music was completely out of place with the time period and the action on the screen. And the comment in another review that the ending was good if predictable almost had me wondering if the movie had been re-edited so I saw a different ending.

At no point in the movie did I care about a single character on the screen. At no time was there a single image that caught my interest. At no time did anything happen that surprised me.

If I had paid money to see this in the theater instead of renting it on disc, I wound have been one very unhappy camper.

No pun Intended - I assume this was shot and done for TV - which back in the day (for the younger ones who may not know), meant it had to be shot a certain way. The format but also the video quality ... well our eyes may not be used to that anymore - or at all.

Add to that quite weak acting and not really a strong plot and there is not a lot to like anymore actually. But I am a sucker for Western movies, so I kind of was entertained to a degree I reckon ... still not enough to give this a good review or rating of course. A lot of shootouts, not a lot of blood though. I don't think anything got cut out - movie is short for other reasons I assume. Not really recommended - you got better things to do with your time.

"Defiance" is that rare thing we haven't seen in a while: a western that take its grip and holds the viewer up until the very end. The 80's and 90's have brought us a number of westerns, all spoofs or tributes to the great genre that once was. Unlike those movies, "Defiance" is tight, raw storytelling in the Sam Peckinpah mold. The violence is hard hitting but not derivative and serves only the story. The actors, mostly unknown, bring wonderful performances to the movie. The director does the most of what is most certainly a low budget and the drama and action roll on at a thrilling pace but do not hurt the reflective and emotional side of the plot. A must see for lovers of westerns and of plain good American film-making.

I caught this dreadfully bad film while channeling surfing and landing on a TV station that specializes in B movies (though until this point no D and E graders). My quick initial impression was that Defiance was a comedy, albeit a cheesy poorly made one, terrible acting, awful period costumes (was expecting to see a price tag still attached), and an over-all amateurishness of production that screams high school project.

A total waste, hopefully all those involved with this abomination of a film have either drastically improved their skills, or found better uses for their time and "talent".

The only saving grace was the remote control was close-by to end the misery.