User Reviews

A friend insisted I watch War Crimes, but told me not to expect too much from it, as it apparently had a fantastically small budget.

Well, the lack of budget certainly showed at times, but the story is compelling and I found that after ten minutes or so I was no longer being sidetracked by the visual/effects shortcomings, as I was drawn into the film.

As some others have commented, the acting is not quite up to the standards of the RSC, but again, it doesn't detract from the story, and I did enjoy the performance by Lt Brcko.

Overall an enjoyable film, and with better budgets and more experience, this could be a film company to keep an eye out for.

Having been handed a copy of this film from a friend who got it from a different friend I sat down to watch this as I had nothing else to do. Well, doing nothing would have been better. If this is the future of the British film industry I fear for it.

The camera work was patchy, if you're going to use more than one type of camera then at least make them look like they could possibly be the same camera. The completely different picture quality between different shots in the same scene was horrifying. And note, by darkening a daylight shot doesn't mean it looks like night time.

The subtitles (and I normally wouldn't have an entire paragraph devoted to these but this time it's really necessary) were spelt incorrectly and changed fonts half way through. Now, changing font, that's one thing, but incorrectly spelt. Surely a spell check isn't that much to invest in after the money has been spent on everything else in that film.

The plot, well, what plot. I'd like to talk about the plot but the lack of it makes that difficult. The premise of student protesters being stuck in a war zone could be used very effectively however it appears that plot has been forgotten for some, rather dodgy, fight scenes. Some of the explosions were actually quite well done but the CGI bullets were laughable.

I'm not even going to mention the acting, the previous reviews have mentioned that they weren't all that great and they liked the film so you can probably guess what I felt about it.

I will give it one plus, the script was very funny. I'm not sure that was on purpose but some of the lines had me laughing. "There's a safe way over there" in particular was very amusing because the actor delivered it as if giving directions to the local supermarket. Slightly less exposition would also be advisable next time.

Digital cameras mean anyone can go out and make a film but that doesn't mean that the film is going to be good, or even vaguely watchable. I did make my way through the entire film but that was more to see if it could possibly get any worse, something that appeared to happen every few seconds. Watching this film was as hard as running up a hill, one that takes as long as it took the female students to run up in this film.

Please, don't make any more films. I beg you, put your money to better uses.

I rented this film for $5 and felt sorry I did it...I wouldn't give a 5c for it if I knew.This is the worse movie ever...None of the filming locations was in former Yugoslavia,map at the beginning what the...???English actors are trying to speak Serbian eg. pretending they are Serbs and they did it terrible bad.My first language is Serbian and I could not understand what they were mumling about.They drove a big jeep in a country where 3 sides (Croats,Serbs and Muslims) are in war and they wrote on it peace 4 Sarajevo???Ha,ha, how stupid was that...Don't know why English are making stupid films about war like this one...or even if they do why they are blaming Serbs for everything,when there was another two sides in a war too.And we all know they were killing too,not just sitting and pretending innocent,so they should at least show the whole truth.This film also Harrison's flowers,Behind enemys lines,The hunting party and few others were total bullshit and that's proved eg The hunting party was biggest loser in 2007/08 spent 20 mil 4 it and they earned 800.000 ha,ha, what a crap...The truth will come out sooner or later.Proud to be Serb!!!

6 out of the 8 comments on this subject rated this film as worth watching, so let me redress the balance.

If this is the best that British Independent film makers have to offer then they need to pack away their cameras right now and find jobs in another industry. Unfortunately for me that was 82 minutes I'll never see again and hopefully I'll save some of you from wasting 82 minutes of your own.

Whilst the idea behind the film is interesting, it is not developed enough to keep the viewer attached. The student characters are bland and uninteresting and quite frankly you won't care about what happens to them. The soldiers are practically caricatures of every baddie ever seen in film, I kept waiting for Captain Markovic to twirl an imaginary moustache. Some of the effects were quite good and showed some imagination, but these were ruined by the shockingly bad acting, poor script writing and patchy camera work. The budget may have been better spent sending the "actors" (and I use that term loosely)to acting classes or the Thomas Brothers to film making school or maybe on a spell checker because the subtitles were incorrectly spelt. The fact that the mis-spellings were not picked up on and rectified speaks volumes about the immaturity of the whole production.

I can only assume that the positive comments are staged by the film makers, either that or they were watching a completely different film. I implore the Thomas Brothers to never give up their day jobs for if they continue in this field, they will surely starve to death.

Very well constructed and shot. Very good locations and action sequences with a great knife fight near the end. It is a good example of how a small independent film company can rise above the stereotypical "British" standard films and that British films don't have to be romantic comedies or gangster films. I was surprised to learn that the studio is new though it already has a professional standard. I look forward to seeing their next projects and i suggest to everyone to keep an eye out for them as they show great promise. Some of the acting of the students leaves a lot to be desire though the soldiers were very good. I suggest it to anyone who enjoys tense thrillers, war films and good combat scenes.

A very powerful story of peace activists who accidentally encounter a massacre in the Balkans during the early 1990s. During the process, they get shot at, stabbed and tortured while they are chased half way around the country. The low budget is clearly a problem, but it looks as if the directors have made the most of it, and then some. A thought provoking film and a tribute to those people who were massacred during the break up of Yugoslavia. Definitely a film that had to be made. Unlike some of the 'arty' crap that often gets made by independent filmmakers, its entertaining enough to make you follow it right to the very last frame.

Having seen the film and learnt about Spearhead films I must say that I am impressed. Not because I think it is the best thing to happen to film or that it will take the world by storm you understand, because it won't and that is not the aim of this film at all. A first offering like this is meant to get Spearhead Films on the map and get their name known. The fact that people are watching it and commenting on it shows that it is achieving this. War Crimes is the first feature length venture from Spearhead Films and it is ambitious. Spearhead have next to no budget and yet they have turned out a professional quality piece of work. OK, if you take the baseline as being a Hollywood Blockbuster then it doesn't measure up, but if you view it for what it is then it is entertaining. Some of the acting is erm, flat to say the least, but then some of it is good too. I think anyone interested in seeing a good first offering by a fledgling film company should give this film a go and watch out for the next film by Spearhead Films.

Classic British independent film using imaginative shooting and a diverse range of location.

There are many fight scenes, much tension and, whilst the acting is a little interesting at times, the plot development is subtly engaging. Initially, I found the character development a little slow, but despite this I was truly engaged by the end and intrigued as the film developed.

Considering the budget, the amount achieved is extraordinary! I can't wait to see what the Thomas Bros. can achieve when given a proper budget! I'll be watching this space!

Let me start off with saying that it was a very pleasant surprise!

I don't really like war movies, so I didn't expect too much. You can definitely tell that it was shot on a low budget, but the movie grabs you in, and after the first 15 minutes you no longer pay attention on its low-budget-ness.

The film was quite realistic, and I'd totally recommend it to anyone who is into this genre.

There aren't many good movies nowadays, especially on a low budget, so it's really worth checking out. The poster is not doing much justice for the film unfortunately for the producers. Overall I think it's a film worth watching, worth buying and anyone who says anything bad about it, just can't appreciate low budget films.