Dennis Quaid Movie:

Editorial Review:
Filmed in Montenegro and based on true accounts of the early '90s ethnic clashes between Serbia and neighboring states, Savior is a harrowing triumph for Serbian director Pedrag Peter Antonijevic and actor Dennis Quaid. For Antonijevic, who shaped Robert Orr's script through his own knowledge of the Serb-Bosnian struggle, the story provides the daunting challenge of putting a human face on a monstrous chapter in modern Europe's geopolitical evolution, and of transcending nationalism by capturing an even-handed but hardly unemotional portrait of the "war psychosis" that only partly explains the deep, divisive hatreds at work. For Quaid, Savior rescues his artistic reputation after too many formulaic studio outings that attempted merely to cash in on his wolfish charms.

Quaid is Joshua Rose, an American in Paris traumatized by the death of his wife and child in an Islamic terrorist bombing, wreaking immediate and fateful vengeance on innocent Muslim worshippers, then escaping into a new life as a mercenary supporting Bosnian Serbs. Under the nom du guerre Guy, Rose is a remorseless, nearly comatose presence until he intervenes in a brutal attack on a Serbian woman (Natasa Ninkovic) pregnant from a Muslim rape. Guy's gradual immersion in his charge's destiny brings him face to face with the centuries-old political, religious, and cultural feuds that haunt the region, and Quaid's own salvation comes through a remarkably subdued, sober performance. That restraint, and Quaid's haggard, close-cropped features are all but unrecognizable to those more familiar with his cocky, grinning turns as a more conventional hero.

Antonijevic makes the journey absorbing and, ultimately, elegiac, punctuated by a few brief but convincingly gruesome action sequences including a civilian massacre that would have been the climax of a more conventional war film. Instead, it's Quaid's own epiphanies that distinguish this probing, heartbreaking drama. The DVD edition retains the original widescreen aspect ratio and includes an audio commentary from the director. --Sam Sutherland.

Savior [Region 2] Reviews:
SAVIOR: masterpiece of realism. scandalous theaters distribution !
2009-05-05 - Just rewatched it tonight. what a movie, what a realism. what a disgusting war.
and seeing the catastrophic box office and distribution this movie had, it's a scandal !!! typical of the 12-24 idiots public targeted by Hollywood with dummier and dummier movies while jewels like this one don't get at least a decent distribution !!!
i hope it did better on dvd. and the blu ray one day.
excellent video and audio transfer/encoding/filming-mastering for the techies. among the best dvds existing.

BUY IT !

Getting Past The First 45 Minutes Is The Hardest Part
2009-04-22 - Wow, this a grim film. Don't look for a lot of laughs in this one! It's not bad if - and that's a big "if" - you can get past the first 45 minutes.

****spoilers**** I got past it on the first viewing but not on the second. It was just too much. Seeing youngsters assassinated, families blown up and then a pregnant woman kicked several times in the stomach was too much for me the second time around. At least you've been warned.

Dennis Quaid plays an American soldier overseas whose family dies at the hands of a Muslim bomber. He gets revenge by heading to a local mosque and begins shooting everyone inside. Quaid is then sent away to a foreign legion and winds up in the middle of the Bosnia War between Muslims and Serbs, and along the way caring for that pregnant woman who was treated so brutally.

This is a very somber film, very depressing in spots, but worth a look.


Savior (Bosnia)
2008-12-21 - Great Story. Seems to make a little sense of a non sensable war & what happened over there in the early 90s

Needs Salvation
2008-08-31 - I tried to get into this movie but had to give up on it about half way through. If you do not have any military experience and can tolerate absurd acting, then this film may be tolerable for you.

Heart Piercing
2008-08-16 - I give this movie 5 stars for effort. Although it's a typical hollywood film. It did a good job under the low budget circumstance. It has some convincing realistic portrayal of the conflict. You need to watch this film with an open mind. Give it a chance. It's worth the peek.