Don't trust these good reviews, most probably it came from director, and his family/close people. I'm giving it 2 stars ONLY because some side actors tried very hard to pull it out, and act properly. But it's impossible to do it with such an idiotic script. Mr. Vrdoljak should really stop making movies, especially with other people money. If he wants to embarrass himself, he should definitely do it with his own money.
55 Reviews
Movie that ruined hero's amazing life story!
zculjak1112 August 2019
Production, lines, music, absolutely everything about this movie had me grabbing my head. Story about heroes that won an impossible war, led by Ante Gotovina, was ruined by incompetent Antun Vrdoljak.
Battle scenes unrealistic and without real emotion (anger, pain, fear...).
Love scenes even worse.
Dialogues filled with cheap philosophy, utterly unrealistic.
These men were soldiers, not failed poets.
Very disappointed, incompetence ruined another great story.
Do not watch this.
talktoivo7 January 2020
Wow...
kjdundovic14 November 2019
This was possibly the worst movie I have seen. It really goes nowhere.
If you have ever wondered what an old Elvis love movie would be like if it was played by James Bond then this will clear it up for you.
Every sentence in the movie was a metaphor, you jump about 50 timelines between different shots. He does nothing all movie so it's a surprise he went to jail in the first place. The movie is about him doing nothing and cheating a few times. If you are interested in learning about the war, don't watch this.
Not only is it punishing to watch, it goes for hours...
We went to the screening and 2 people clapped at the end. The person next to me said "I feel bad not clapping because someone put effort into this"
I am stronger person for getting through this "movie"
If you have ever wondered what an old Elvis love movie would be like if it was played by James Bond then this will clear it up for you.
Every sentence in the movie was a metaphor, you jump about 50 timelines between different shots. He does nothing all movie so it's a surprise he went to jail in the first place. The movie is about him doing nothing and cheating a few times. If you are interested in learning about the war, don't watch this.
Not only is it punishing to watch, it goes for hours...
We went to the screening and 2 people clapped at the end. The person next to me said "I feel bad not clapping because someone put effort into this"
I am stronger person for getting through this "movie"
Don't believe good ratings here...
egolessmusic6 January 2020
Warning: Spoilers
These high-star ratings are obviously written by the director, friends and the crew itself, because the movie and TV series versions are universally mocked by Croatian population.
However, if you like trash movies with utterly nonsensical dialogue, loads of mistakes and cringe acting this movie actually might be for you.
However, if you like trash movies with utterly nonsensical dialogue, loads of mistakes and cringe acting this movie actually might be for you.
An absolute insult to cinema in general...
detomasso73-17 January 2020
This project is a monument to corruption and a witness to the history of the moment when the Croatian people live. From the author himself, who has always been a windmill in political terms to the financing of this senseless realization, the movie will serve generations as a poor example of the marriage of politics and art. Hope it didn't happen again ...
Second worst movie ever
aichi-369-82581314 January 2020
I am very interested in history and that's why I checked this series...Not it is very inacurate, it is pathetic with dialogs and full of mistakes. When 80 and over old producer wants to make something in tribute to his country, better not. I understand that Croats had difficult times, but this depiction is idiotic, it makes all actors like idiots, though some great names, including Visnjic, are included (nevertheless, he's is producer's son in law, working for free).
It doesn't tell you anything about croat liberation in 90s, just some video slideshow with realy, again, pathetic dialogs and acting, making viewer to doubt in most events, included in movie. Second, it makes viewer feel like naive idiot. Actualy only in just one scene is worth mention, when croat soldier takes serbian soldier in wheelbarrow and they are talking about nonsense of war. All the rest...
Why second worst movie? Because it is so bad it can not even reach top spot!
It doesn't tell you anything about croat liberation in 90s, just some video slideshow with realy, again, pathetic dialogs and acting, making viewer to doubt in most events, included in movie. Second, it makes viewer feel like naive idiot. Actualy only in just one scene is worth mention, when croat soldier takes serbian soldier in wheelbarrow and they are talking about nonsense of war. All the rest...
Why second worst movie? Because it is so bad it can not even reach top spot!
Lose.
keber-franjo8 August 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Prva polovica filma obiluje scenama na koji je jedina moguca reakcija, kako bi Amerikanci rekli - cringe. Ne znam otkud da pocnem. Ono sto bi u ovom filmu ocijenio najgorom ocjenom je definitivno izbor glumaca. Forsiranje "provjerenih" glumackih zvijezda od kojih je vecina vec trebala u mirovinu pokazalo se kao gadan promasaj. Naglasci - ocaj. Rene Bitorajac koji glumi Francuza, a francuski izgovara kao moj brat koji ga je ucio dvije godine u srednjoj i odustao. Slavko Sobin koji glumi Arapa - ne moram znati arapski da cujem da mu je izgovor blago receno katastrofa. Slavonci koji glume Dalmatince, Dalmatinci koji glume Bosance, Bosanci koji glume Purgere? Niti jedan glumac nije glumio ulogu onoga sto je ustvari po mjestu rodenja - i to se cuje i zvuci ocajno. U istoj recenici kazu bio i bija, sta i sto. Mustafa Nadarevic da glumi Janka Bobetka? Izet? IZET??? Tarik Filipovic, koliko god mi se svida kao voditelj kvizova, jedan je od najgorih hrvatskih (bosanskih) glumaca. A Goran Visnjic posebna prica. Uzasno precijenjen glumac, to nije gluma, to je preglumljivanje. Kao da glumi u Shakespearovoj drami a ne u filmu koji nastoji vjerno prikazati dogadaje iz proslosti. Posebno sam se nasmijao na scenu u kojoj Suzana Nikolic, zena od 54 godine glumi i, odjevena u rubac, prica kao baka od 85 godina. Bolje da su dali mladim hrvatskim glumackim nadama da se uhvate u kostac sa ovime, a ne ispranim "zvijezdama". Izbor pozadinske glazbe je opet druga prica - ocajan. Kao da gledam soft core pornic iz 80-tih. Dijalozi - zatupljujuci, dosadni i neuvjerljivi.
Objektivnost cijele price je opet posebna prica. Ne govorim da je Gotovina ratni zlocinac, ali prikazivanje njega kao ultimativnog sveca koji ne da da svojim zarobljenicima padne dlaka s glave je totalno promaseno i nepotrebno. Sluzi samo za zadovoljavanje plitkih zelja hrvatskih nacionalista. Takoder prikazivanje svega samo sa jedne - hrvatske strane (osim samog kraja) oduzima filmu na vjerodostojnosti.
Film od 2 sata i 20 minuta ne bi trebao ostaviti dojam kakav je ostavio. A to je da cijeli film "protrcava" kroz generalov zivot, prikazujuci dogadaje koji su totalno nepovezani i cesto uopce nebitni za cijelu pricu.
Film pocinje dogadajem u kojem je mali Ante djelomicno kriv za smrt svoje majke, kao neka premisa i faktor koji ga oblikuje kao osobu i sve ono sto je on danas. I sto redatelj napravi s tim dogadajem? Ama bas nista. On se uopce kasnije ne spominje.
Jedino sto sam koliko toliko sa zanimanjem pogledao je zadnja cetvrtina filma, kada pocinje Oluja. Iako je sama po sebi losa, naspram katastrofe od filma koja joj prethodi, jos je i dobra i tu se izvlaci neka jadna dvojka.
Pure trash
dinko-965689 January 2020
Solid in terms of movie quality, questionable story...
dancomanmandanco13 August 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Alright so here's the thing, they got the Croatian all star line up of actors which is something that I like, quality of the movie was pretty good, acting.. not great but pretty good as well(there are certain "meh" moments), there are a lot of scenes which were unfinished and questions left unanswered..( What happened with the family in Columbia, did Nikica survive in the end?, What was with The General.. did he get in jail, got killed, nothing.. etc?), story is a little bit biased imo, yes it's correct but it's too... let's say soft, it seems like every town was empty and there was no resistance at all from the JNA/Serbia, Croatian solders were too perfect and fight/gun scenes were.... empty
But ya, overall movie is not that bad
But ya, overall movie is not that bad
Poor quality
neldonax20 September 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Inconsistent and badly paced writing; scenes at the beginning just wiz by but by the end they last too long, until they stop and are unnaturally fast again.
The buildup to the ending is not worth it, Oluja lasts for less than a minute
But it has a few kek moments so yh i give it a 3
But it has a few kek moments so yh i give it a 3
it doesn't get worse than this
jurehihihi18 January 2020
This is a propaganda movie made by extremly incompetent people. Life of Ante Gotovina can be made into a very good movie. For some, he is a hero and for others, a war criminal. This is good movie material because it provides a lot of grey areas to explore. Here however, there are no grey areas, Gotovina is depicted as a flat, one dimensional hero with no flaw. Inspiration is obviously drawn from ex-Yugoslav partisan movies, war spectacles that used to be made in the 60-ies and 70-ies. While those were also propaganda films, technically they were well made. It's not the case here, acting is terrible, production cheap and unconvincing, dialogues and action scenes are ridiculous. Looks as if it was made on budget, however it recived generous funding from Croatia's public money sack. Half of the money dissappeard before it reached the set, obviously, and also some of the actors claim they weren't paid for their work. Seeing this movie will tell you more about Croatia today, than about our independence war. And what you will get to see is not nice, I'm afraid.
too much...
spanchic6 October 2019
An 8part TV-series cut down to a bigscreen-movie
mov13junk1326 September 2019
This movie had the biggest budget of any croatian movie so far, still compared to hollywood-standards this is only the budget of a B-movie, even though additionally the croatian army helped out with a lot of real hardware (tanks, helicopters, soldiers).
What makes things really worse, allegedly the movie itself is a cutdown version of the upcoming 8part TV-series and IT SHOWS, there are jumps in the movie that makes the storytelling inconsistent, postproduction seemed to have rushed through and worked very sloppy, a CG helicopter-crash that doesnt fit visually to the rest of the action-scenes, an attack by an enemys mig21 but not even the fast cut could hide the croatian insignia on it, windmills on the hills in the background that didnt exist back in the days.
If you expect a truely cinematic experience, you wont find it here, it looks like a oldschool TV series because it is one and the people who produced it have an oldschool background in doing these.
Now why do i give it 4/10 ? Because i still liked 35% of it and yes, those 35% are probably biased because i have croatian heritage, once you get over the 1/3 cringe-worthy parts especially at the begining of the movie, the 1/3 of lame action scenes that where just not in the directors repertoire and the fact that this is actually a TV-series you might find 1/3 of it still interessting if you are croatian and can relate to croatias war of independence. Suprisingly enough the parts i liked where those that consisted only of people talking, i liked the actors and dialogues between gotovina and the female reporter, zulu, nikica, domazet and roso which where the better casted actors in this movie, because of that i might have a look at the TV-series as well.
Last but not least, kudos to the director who is 87years old for trying to deliver his best.
What makes things really worse, allegedly the movie itself is a cutdown version of the upcoming 8part TV-series and IT SHOWS, there are jumps in the movie that makes the storytelling inconsistent, postproduction seemed to have rushed through and worked very sloppy, a CG helicopter-crash that doesnt fit visually to the rest of the action-scenes, an attack by an enemys mig21 but not even the fast cut could hide the croatian insignia on it, windmills on the hills in the background that didnt exist back in the days.
If you expect a truely cinematic experience, you wont find it here, it looks like a oldschool TV series because it is one and the people who produced it have an oldschool background in doing these.
Now why do i give it 4/10 ? Because i still liked 35% of it and yes, those 35% are probably biased because i have croatian heritage, once you get over the 1/3 cringe-worthy parts especially at the begining of the movie, the 1/3 of lame action scenes that where just not in the directors repertoire and the fact that this is actually a TV-series you might find 1/3 of it still interessting if you are croatian and can relate to croatias war of independence. Suprisingly enough the parts i liked where those that consisted only of people talking, i liked the actors and dialogues between gotovina and the female reporter, zulu, nikica, domazet and roso which where the better casted actors in this movie, because of that i might have a look at the TV-series as well.
Last but not least, kudos to the director who is 87years old for trying to deliver his best.
It could not be worse than it is
ante-magas10 January 2020
The worst Croatian movie ever!
boban-josip29 January 2020
It could work as a comedy
ivanpetricevic-888774 October 2021
If this movie was a comedy, it could work. It has same dialogs as "The Room", or maybe some of Leslie Nielsen work. Unfortunately, this is not a comedy, it should be a serious movie about the life of famous Croatian general Ante Gotovina.
His life is 'James Bond like', but this movie is a insult to his legacy. Probably worst acting ever, invluding Goran Visnjic. Storytelling is a joke, there are a lot of mistakes regarding places, productplacment etc. There are Lidl and Kaufland billboards that were not there in 1991. Director Antun Vrdoljak is responsible. He is very old and obviouslly doen't know how to male movies. Avoid at any cost.
His life is 'James Bond like', but this movie is a insult to his legacy. Probably worst acting ever, invluding Goran Visnjic. Storytelling is a joke, there are a lot of mistakes regarding places, productplacment etc. There are Lidl and Kaufland billboards that were not there in 1991. Director Antun Vrdoljak is responsible. He is very old and obviouslly doen't know how to male movies. Avoid at any cost.
A stunningly bad movie by all criteria
moviefreak0012 January 2020
The sincere excitement and anticipation of a high-budget domestic movie, was replaced by honest and profound disappointment after watching it.
The script is obviously extremely bad, as if it was written during one lunch break, without any sense or meaning, so both characters and events are poorly portrayed. The movie contains an awful lot of pointless and unnecessary monologues that portray the characters in a completely wrong way, so it's almost impossible to relate a real person with a character in a movie. Of course, that wouldn't be a problem if this movie was not meant to portray real people and real events. Numerous monologues and a chronic lack of action, in my opinion, made the movie genre undefined. The biographical aspect of this film is inaccurate and imprecise, the historical aspect is under-represented and unclear, while the war/action aspect is completely omitted.
The essence of this movie are the annoying monologues and dialogues, a few extremely cheap action scenes with even cheaper special effects (if we can call them special effects at all), somehow mixed together into 145 minutes of some kind of content. All this leaves me under the strong impression that the budget intended for the filming was actually used solely for the personal benefit and earnings of individuals in charge of the project. They must have known that a movie of this "quality" couldn't possibly earn anything after it was finished / screened.
If this were a product of the film section of elementary school children, then I would have a lot more understanding and my comments would be less critical because I would know that children were limited by knowledge, experience, equipment and budget. But since this is a product of professionals, funded by the state budget, I just do not understand how such a failure and shame for the film industry could have happened?
For films like this, IMDb should also have a negative rating, as this one definitely deserves less than one star.
The script is obviously extremely bad, as if it was written during one lunch break, without any sense or meaning, so both characters and events are poorly portrayed. The movie contains an awful lot of pointless and unnecessary monologues that portray the characters in a completely wrong way, so it's almost impossible to relate a real person with a character in a movie. Of course, that wouldn't be a problem if this movie was not meant to portray real people and real events. Numerous monologues and a chronic lack of action, in my opinion, made the movie genre undefined. The biographical aspect of this film is inaccurate and imprecise, the historical aspect is under-represented and unclear, while the war/action aspect is completely omitted.
The essence of this movie are the annoying monologues and dialogues, a few extremely cheap action scenes with even cheaper special effects (if we can call them special effects at all), somehow mixed together into 145 minutes of some kind of content. All this leaves me under the strong impression that the budget intended for the filming was actually used solely for the personal benefit and earnings of individuals in charge of the project. They must have known that a movie of this "quality" couldn't possibly earn anything after it was finished / screened.
If this were a product of the film section of elementary school children, then I would have a lot more understanding and my comments would be less critical because I would know that children were limited by knowledge, experience, equipment and budget. But since this is a product of professionals, funded by the state budget, I just do not understand how such a failure and shame for the film industry could have happened?
For films like this, IMDb should also have a negative rating, as this one definitely deserves less than one star.
A shameful production
joe1-57-72108517 January 2020
Better tagline: War criminal
dadislame23 October 2019
If you don't want to read the usual ethno-national Balkan hate speech then you're in the wrong place...
yezuit3 February 2020
I wanted to check if I should spend my valuable time watching either the movie or the series and all I needed to know was if this was trash or worth my time. Unfortunately, dear users, most of your comments seem to express your emotions regarding the war that, at least for you, hasn't finished yet and very few are about the quality or the production or the plot. So thanks for nothing, I've just lost half an hour of my valuable time reading your completely useless reviews...
PS those of you still banging your respective national war drums, please, please learn to use the spellcheck and invest in some grammar lessons so your pig "English" won't hurt somebody else's brain since mine is definitely bruised after reading your "reviews"...
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