Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

5 Days of War Blu-ray Movie Review

5 days, +/- 2 hours, 1 memory card, all Renny Harlin.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman November 21, 2011

Welcome to Cold War: The Sequel.

5 Days of War is Director Renny Harlin's bold attempt to make a substantive Action movie. The Die Hard 2: Die Harder and Cliffhanger director, as those titles suggest, is best known for crafting visual thrill rides that dazzle with spectacular action and big-budget special effects. 5 Days of War is really no different, but the story is framed around a more immediate, powerful, and true-to-life element that should elevate the material from "popcorn munching fare" to "thought-provoking art." Harlin doesn't absolutely succeed; 5 Days of War regurgitates typical Action movie elements -- albeit probably the slickest action movie elements he's ever created -- throughout, but the film does carry with it a weightiness that's missing from his usual shoot-em-up movies. Still, there's no escaping that this is basically a straight run-and-gun Action flick, but perhaps the most significant difference is that the hero isn't a John McClane type who runs around shooting bad guys but rather a man who's armed only with a nose for the news and the guts to do whatever it takes to make sure the world knows about the atrocities committed in war-torn Georgia.

War's coming.

Journalist Thomas Anders (Rupert Friend) has seen and experienced some pretty terrible things. He's a survivor of a brutal attack in Iraq, and he's now in the middle of a burgeoning conflict in Georgia. Russian forces are poised to invade the country. Anders and his cameraman Sebastian Ganz (Richard Coyle) are ready to report on the action, but the world is too caught up in the Beijing Olympic Games to concern itself with a brewing conflict with worldwide implications. The situation quickly deteriorates into all-out war; Russian forces rapidly and with brutal efficiency push into the country. Anders becomes witness to many unbelievable actions. A wedding ceremony is destroyed, and innocent civilians are tortured and executed. The Russian's activities are captured on video, and Anders must live long enough and evade capture if he is to upload the data and show the world what's happening while it's distracted by other events.

There's no denying 5 Days of War's technical spit and polish, but the movie just exudes something of a disappointing predictability in that it follows basic Action movie formula rather than dare to do something different, particularly considering the added weight the story lends to the overall experience. The film begins with a carful of chatty journalists who, surprise, come under attack, and one of the focus characters is killed. The scene is well made, but that the movie jumps straight into a regurgitated, see-it-coming-from-a-mile-away formula element is a huge disappointment, a disappointment that's repeated several times throughout the film. Fortunately, Harlin is able to overcome the movie's paint-by-numbers feel by crafting some fantastically realized action scenes that are probably the most engaging and realistic of his career. The picture effortlessly places the viewer in the middle of the film's various modern urban warfare settings where attack helicopters, tanks, and small arms devastate everything in sight. Harlin handles the material with the now-standard shaky cam perspective to add a further realistic sensation to the proceedings. The picture does a masterful job of creating a terrifying, gut-churning, nerve-tingling wartime environment. In this instance, the movie is an unequivocal success, but does it deliver where the story seems to dictate is the one area that really counts?

Unfortunately, the answer is "no." 5 Days of War looks good, moves fast, and delivers an insane amount of polished action pieces, but the film falls thematically flat, even though the material would suggest something a little beyond Action movie norm. It does a decent enough job of intermixing behind-the-scenes political realities with the action on the ground -- Andy Garcia is excellent in the role of the Georgian president who holds firm and hilariously mocks an "emergency meeting" held by the EU countries in response to Russia's aggression -- but again, such aspects play behind the raw action scenes, important parts of the movie as they may be. The primary focus away from the action, however, is in the character's efforts at survival and the balance between living and holding fast to their beliefs and the need to get word out to the public about the atrocities being committed during the invasion. The film does fairly well in this regard, building up some almost unbearable tension in the process, but just when it looks like the movie has turned a corner, Harlin goes back to old faithful and saves the day with another action scene rather than something a little more bold or original. Really, one of the film's most critical scenes is resolved by commandos breaking through windows and shooting up the bad guys. The story just deserves something better, but Harlin, bless him, can't seem to resist the urge to have big action scenes every few minutes. Fortunately, 5 Days of War is still worth a watch; this is no doubt Harlin's most polished movie (even if Cliffhanger is his best all-around effort) and he does do a fantastic job of brining the chaos of war-town Georgia onto the screen. It's just too bad that the action overwhelms what should have been a deeper thematic experience.

5 Days of War Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

5 Days of War features a brilliant 1080p Blu-ray transfer. Renny Harlin shot the picture digitally, which does give the movie a flat, glossy, and textureless flavor, but such is the nature of the source and not a feature of the Blu-ray. Anchor Bay's disc delivers the transfer smoothly and efficiently. It captures an insane amount of detail, made possible particularly thanks to the image's unbeatable clarity. Every facial hair stubble, war-ravaged debris, the texture on military uniforms, pebbly dirt roads, natural vegetation, and even dings, dents, stretches, and wear on armored military vehicles are all breathtakingly precise. Colors are equally impressive; the palette yields a natural vibrancy and evenness that can't be beat. Black levels are spectacular, dark and true but never crushing out details or going gray. The image is free of excess noise. Banding is absent, and the image is also free of blocky backgrounds and other eyesores. Digital movies presented in 1080p just don't look better than this.

5 Days of War Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

5 Days of War features an engaging and energized Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The main focus here is in the action, and Anchor Bay's track definitely delivers. Gunfire enjoys a positive, heavy thump. It spits out from every corner, effectively placing the listener in the middle of the mayhem. Explosions enjoy a positive low end support, and missiles and other heavy ordinance explode from every corner of the listening area. Tanks roll through with great power and fine directional effect. Ditto helicopters. In essence, this track turns the living room into a modern war zone. It's insanely good, enveloping and the closest thing most may ever get to dodging real bullets and incoming shells. Music enjoys fine clarity and spacing, and dialogue is focused, clear, and never lost underneath the barrage of wartime sound effects. This track is a blast, literally; it's a fine listen and one that Action/War movie fans will enjoy a great deal. It alone is almost worth the price of admission.

5 Days of War Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

5 Days of War contains a relatively small supplemental section, headlined by a wonderful audio commentary track. No featurettes are included.

• Audio Commentary: Producer/Director Renny Harlin opens with a humorous "in a world..." joke, but quickly switches to speaking on the true history of the Georgian/Russian conflict and the film's fictional account of the war's true events. He discusses the picture's structure, the work of real life combat correspondents, the creation of various sequences, shooting locales (including authentic war locations and in Georgia's President's real office), creating the action scenes, the rigors of the shoot and crafting a picture digitally (Harlin says he will never shoot on film again for the post-production versatility digital offers), the quality of the cast, the picture's score, and much, much more. This track is a fine compliment to the movie; Harlin proves to be a well-versed and engaging speaker. Fans of the movie or those interested in either the history of the Georgian/Russian conflict or the filmmaking process will enjoy this one a great deal.
• Deleted Scenes (1080p, 11:00).
• 5 Days of War Trailer (1080p, 2:21).

5 Days of War Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

5 Days of War is a visually enjoyable but thematically frustrating picture. What should yield some deeper themes and a more refined and important story instead dissolves into a pretty standard Action flick, but it's at least action captured very smoothly and efficiently and with great polish and attention to detail. The performances are fine -- Andy Garcia in particular shines -- but the characters are rather flat, principled and mostly likable as they may but not too terribly engaging. Still, the movie is a relatively fun ride, and it does bring attention to some serious issues concerning war crime brutality; it just does so in the guise of a fairly straight and predictable but well-made Action movie. Anchor Bay's Blu-ray release of 5 Days of War features exceptionally strong technical presentations and a couple of extras. This is easily worth a rental, and perhaps, even, a purchase on a good sale.