5 Days of War - DVD

Film: After reporter Thomas Anders (Rupert Friend) loses his girlfriend (Heather Graham) while covering Iraq, he tries to distract himself from the pain with his work. When the conflict between Russia and Georgia escalates into acts of war in August 2008, Thomas plunges into the bloody action with his cameraman Sebastian (Richard Coyle). But even as he captures the massacre of innocent civilians, no broadcaster can be found willing to report on the war crimes. And for Thomas and Sebastian, the long haul in the crisis zone becomes increasingly dangerous.

With films like Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger, and Deep Blue Sea, director Renny Harlin has proven himself to be extremely talented when it comes to staging action. This can be seen again in 5 Days of War. Especially the grippingly staged opening sequence provides the viewer with a proper adrenaline rush and gives hope for a gripping war drama. In parts Harlin succeeds in this. Whenever there is combat action, the master is in his element and it is hard to escape the action.

However, when it comes to dramaturgy, Harlin, as with previous works, reveals clear weaknesses. Whether it's the relationship between Thomas and the young Georgian Tatia (Emanuelle Chriqui), or the scenes surrounding the Georgian president (Andy Garcia) and his staff, neither the actors nor the script can convince at such moments. This wouldn't be a tragedy if the film didn't claim a certain authenticity and realism, which is reinforced in the end credits by recorded interviews with real Georgians involved. For Harlin has a very one-sided view of things and thus builds up an annoyingly one-dimensional image of the enemy, which in the end almost makes the film feel like propaganda against Russia.

If the film were set in a fictional crisis area and did not tell of true events, the film's message, which is in itself very good and important, would also resonate better with the viewer. But Harlin's extreme one-sidedness buries the good intentions and thus dilutes the overall impression, which is decent in itself. Even the good cast can't do anything about that.

Whoever can overlook that, gets a solid war thriller, which is very intense in some scenes and is able to build up a good level of tension. And then this home movie premiere is well worth watching. But if you also hope for a good and balanced dramaturgy and a cliché-free script, you will be rather disappointed to turn off the TV.

Picture + Sound: Technically, the DVD conversion can definitely convince. The picture is clean and the overall sharpness is good over long stretches. Only in the darker moments, the contrasts weaken, which then also negatively affects the representation of details. The sound has some strong surround effects to offer in the fight sequences and is otherwise dominated by the dialogues and rather subtly mixed ambient sounds. Good!

Extras: The interviews of cast and crew (approx. 30 min.) and the uncommented look behind the scenes (approx. 15 min.) have a rather high promotional character and are overall rather superficial, but also not completely uninteresting. The trailer for the film is also provided. Not much, but on balance okay.

Conclusion: 5 Days of War works very well as a thriller and action film, as an authentic war drama, however, the work leaves a rather pale aftertaste. Technically, the implementation of the film is on a good level, the extras are advertising-heavy, but not completely uninteresting. Therefore, despite obvious weaknesses as an action-packed war thriller quite still recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp