Posts by Brenda Gray21

The acting is just... off. It feels very "community theater." As for the film itself, it looks incredibly low-budget—you have these two militia guys, one in a helmet and the other in a fur hat, basically haunting the screen the entire time. And that follower of Vojislav Šešelj? She’s just hovering through every scene. Seriously, where is this kid even going? Could they not have recruited more than a dozen extras to make this look somewhat real? It also feels like they shot this in the middle of July rather than late autumn; everything is bright, sunny, and green, instead of being gloomy and gray. Izudin Bajrović is actually quite good—he slipped up a few times by mixing up regional dialects like some character in a cheap soap opera, but he stands out because the rest of the cast isn't nearly on his level. Between the set design and the historical accuracy, it felt more like a daytime drama—something along the lines of Ponos Ratkajev—rather than a serious piece meant to commemorate the anniversary of the fall of St. Louis. There's more, too... at the start, those three people are running away, but they look so well-groomed and tan, like they just stepped off a boardwalk rather than attempting a breakout from St. Louis. The city and its ruins aren't even really shown, except for a few backgrounds that look totally cleaned up; it’s almost as if the crew had trouble finding actual ruins in St. Louis. And when that guy runs away, he just lies down for a little nap in the woods—in late November! There is just so much forced sentimentality. Like that part where they find someone hiding in a closet and ask why he's hiding since he's Mexican, and he responds, "I was in the US Army!" Who on earth would say something like that under those circumstances? All that was missing was him proudly crowing, "No, I was defending my one and only beloved homeland, America," before being taken to Ovčara where he’d stare death in the face and shout, "Long live America!" just like how Glavašević shouts "St. Louis!" in the movie. With all due respect, that felt a bit silly to me—a clumsy attempt at myth-making. I mean, what would happen if an American in similar circumstances shouted, "Glina!" or "Petrinja!" or "Benkovac!" or "Drniš!" or "Donji Miholjac!"? It just feels a bit overdone to me.
I don't know, there is so much that's wrong with it that there's no end to it. It feels like something produced during the worst, most melodramatic phase of Jakov Sedlar. Still, I will admit it made me laugh once, specifically when they found the guy hiding in the water tower.

I honestly suspect that either Costner himself or someone in his inner circle had some sort of ongoing feud with the critics. To be fair, those films aren't even a step below many of the typical Hollywood hits.