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While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Some people complain of the "boring" action scenes, but this is not true. The scenes that occur in villages or other close-quarters situations really are interesting. Many people expect something out of Commando or Total Recall, but that is not how these battles happen. Even at relatively close range, there isn't much that a pinned down, wounded soldier can do. He can shoot back, hoping to hit something, but he is more or less immobile and probably less aware of his surroundings. The battles that occur at range are slow because, well, they are. When soldiers are closing in on a location from, coming over a mountain and moving around, there isn't much you can do, even with a relatively accurate machine gun. You can fire off rounds here and there, but mostly it is about killing at least one or two of them, while conserving ammo for the time when the enemies are closer. You are even worse off with an AK-47 when are long ranges. That's why it isn't so exciting. It is, nonetheless, an interesting and realistic plot. No, the cars don't explode because the hero fired a few rifle rounds from a huge distance.

I've just watched the movie and i liked it a lot. 1st thing i liked about it is that it gives an info about war in Chechnya, stuff i never knew much about, so that was the reason why i started to watch it. but, as the movie went on more and more good things about it started appearing. its pretty realistic, so different for regular USA action BSing (great explosions make great movie...LOL). i don't think that Muslim fighters were "bad guys" in this movie, at least they r not shown that way. yes, their prisoners work as slaves, they kill prisoners, starve them and stuff...but its shown just as a things that do happen in war. and, lets face it, they do. also, enemies (chechens) r not some people that we know nothing about, aslan in his conversation with Ivan clearly states why is he fighting and which side is "the right side" in that conflict. basically, all sides involved have their good and bad sides. fighting scenes r made just the way i like it: keeping it real, no cheap explosions to make stupid viewers say "aaahhh, thats great", no exaggeration of any kind. scenes of countryside r beautiful. the best part of the movie, IMO, is the ending. i could say that thats the point where only "bad guy" is revealed: john goes back and becomes famous and he doesn't give a f... about whats going on with his comrades back in Russia, he just lets those poor Russians and chechens rot, he himself not having any worry in the world. he just showed everything what he filmed without asking himself what would that cause to Ivan in Russia. Ivan, on the other side, showed himself to be man of principles, honest, brave, fair and firm. really nice movie, realistic, not idolizing anyone, not praising anyone, just showing the war as it is (nothing more and nothing less)

Captured by Chechen rebels, a British actor is released from captivity only so he can raise the ransom demanded for his fiancée.But red tape, Government policy and indifferent bureaucrats thwart his efforts and, with the clock ticking, he heads back to Russia, hooks up with a cynical Siberian soldier with whom he was originally held and persuades him to return into enemy territory on an armed rescue mission.Striving at times for a documentary depiction of the horrors of war (beheadings for the internet, graphic deaths, the rape of a leading character), director Alexei Balabanov bolts on big chunks of Boys' Own adventure and Rambo-style action with mixed results.It's undoubtedly highly watchable but also feels very much like anti-Islamic, anti-Chechen propaganda.One major saving grace is Sergie Bodrov Jr, whose performance as the pragmatic Russian is easily the best thing here.

WAR (or VOJNA) is a good movie, make no doubt about it. It has some excellent performances by the actors, and the script is quite strong. But here's the thing: the entire movie seems strangely muted, as if the writer/director was afraid of being TOO interesting. The action scenes, the part of the movie that should have been really loud and frightening, instead looks rather...dull and nonchalant. Thousands of rounds are going off, but the whole sequence is staged to look like a high school play -- i.e. they're not very exciting at all.But for a film about the troubles in Chechna, this is one of the few movies that've touched the subject. Worth it just to understand the politics of the area.6 out of 10(go to www.nixflix.com for a more detailed review of this movie as well as reviews of other films from around the world)