Some films have always attempted to rewrite history. This one belongs to those that take it a step further and attempt to rewrite recent events. The result is in this case very anti-Serbian and anti-Slavic. Frankly, I found the film culturally insensitive and offensive (even though I'm not Serbian myself).
However, let's look at the craftsmanship quality of the film first. To put it simply, it's a (weak) Die Hard in a hospital with a double Keyser Söze at the end. Nothing new is added to these simple constructs and ironically, I think that's a good thing (a film isn't perfect when you can't add anything to it, but when you can't remove anything). The plot is confusing and chaotic. It doesn't clear up until shortly before the first Keyser Söze twist and when the twist happens, we find out that most of it were lies anyway. Yes, that's exactly the effect the filmmakers were aiming for, but it leaves an impression that they don't know what are they doing. JCVD performed as expected and Autumn Reeser wasn't bad either.
Alas, this film isn't just about neutral entertainment. For no reason whatsoever, they decided to make it an "exploitation" film. Phillip's (a typical Albanian name indeed) father could have been an FBI agent murdered by a drug lord. No, they decided to make it political so he was an Albanian separatist killed by Black Hand (yes, the group which "started the Great War" and which actually no longer exists). It's quite clear on whose side the filmmakers are just from a special usage of whitewashing. Albanians are cast by blond and/or blue-eyed Caucasians (preferably Anglo-Saxons, but Spanish and others are OK too) while Slavs are made to look as Siberian/Asian as possible. WOW. Whitewashing was always considered bad, but when you actually manage to offend even white people themselves, you know that you've reached a new level. Misrepresentation of Albanians doesn't stop at appearance. They are characterized as some kind of noble samurai who resort to violence only when their peaceful ways fail. ROFL.
By the way, Kingdom of Yugoslavia wasn't created by Soviet Union. It was a result of Paris accords after WWI.
However, let's look at the craftsmanship quality of the film first. To put it simply, it's a (weak) Die Hard in a hospital with a double Keyser Söze at the end. Nothing new is added to these simple constructs and ironically, I think that's a good thing (a film isn't perfect when you can't add anything to it, but when you can't remove anything). The plot is confusing and chaotic. It doesn't clear up until shortly before the first Keyser Söze twist and when the twist happens, we find out that most of it were lies anyway. Yes, that's exactly the effect the filmmakers were aiming for, but it leaves an impression that they don't know what are they doing. JCVD performed as expected and Autumn Reeser wasn't bad either.
Alas, this film isn't just about neutral entertainment. For no reason whatsoever, they decided to make it an "exploitation" film. Phillip's (a typical Albanian name indeed) father could have been an FBI agent murdered by a drug lord. No, they decided to make it political so he was an Albanian separatist killed by Black Hand (yes, the group which "started the Great War" and which actually no longer exists). It's quite clear on whose side the filmmakers are just from a special usage of whitewashing. Albanians are cast by blond and/or blue-eyed Caucasians (preferably Anglo-Saxons, but Spanish and others are OK too) while Slavs are made to look as Siberian/Asian as possible. WOW. Whitewashing was always considered bad, but when you actually manage to offend even white people themselves, you know that you've reached a new level. Misrepresentation of Albanians doesn't stop at appearance. They are characterized as some kind of noble samurai who resort to violence only when their peaceful ways fail. ROFL.
By the way, Kingdom of Yugoslavia wasn't created by Soviet Union. It was a result of Paris accords after WWI.