Merolliv I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

darbski ****SPOILERS**** Read No Further. If you haven't already seen this production, do so before you read this review - you'll thank yourself later, believe me. Yeah, I was thinking the same thing everyone else was - why didn't Quaid just shoot the s.o.b. before he killed the girl? In my humble, but correct opinion, SHE was the savior in this movie. she was the one who sang the lullaby to her baby before she was so brutally murdered; thereby saving Quaid and the kid. As crappy as it sounds to say, I was really torn up by the who-was-who in this confusing mass of contradictions, until that point. It became very clear, then, that neither side was truly innocent. The next "cleansing" that takes place over there will probably prove that out. It is always very interesting to watch religions at work on each other; so convinced that they are right that they can get away with anything. The settings were truthfully bleak, the 10th century minds were horribly real, the ending was not hopeful, except, just possibly the kid's....and Quaid's. Mr. Quaid's acting was very good, but I have a problem with his continual frown. See, when you've done so much killing, it becomes routine, long after the anger has left -- I believe. Kinsky's part was too small, and I bought the movie from Amazon... Just to remind myself that people are sometimes very courageous, indeed. This is a strong 10.

NateWatchesCoolMovies Savior is not an easy film to watch. At times it's downright excruciating. But it's also beautiful, and takes its subject matter very, very seriously, with not a cliché in sight for the entire duration. It's also has the best Dennis Quaid performance in his whole career. He is a charming, roguish guy known for his million dollar smile and good natured way. Here he drops all of that for a solemn, tortured turn that leaves your heart in a vice grip and your hands gripping the chair. He plays a military operative whose wife (Natassja Kinski) and little son are slaughtered in a terrorist bombing in Paris. He promptly walks down the street to the nearest mosque, enters and shoots everyone in the place. That's in the first ten minutes of the film. As an escape route he enters a special faction of the French Foreign Legion with his buddy (Stellan Skarsgaard in an excellent but quick appearance), whose task it is to bring some kind of order to the war against n Bosnia. There he finds himself the caretaker of a Bosnian girl who was raped and is pregnant with a Muslim child. Their journey across a ruined, confusing, harrowing country in crisis is one that will give you nightmares. But amidst the horror there is humanity, and a sense that he's trying to find the force within himself, and right his path to help this girl as best he can. There are no good guys or bad guys in this one. Just people swept up by conflict and hate against their will, in constant danger of the raging genocidal fury that lies just outside their door. Quaid steers the film with his rock jawed, stoic intensity, and the girl, played by is phenomenal, her last scene a haunting exodus that will leave you with goosebumps to go along with your nausea. This is a brutal, brutal movie though. Not even in the sense of the specific violence they show, it's the cold, frank context of it that gets under the skin of your soul. But it shows that even a person who emerges from a violent, scorched past into an environment like that can make somewhat of a difference. Very overlooked war film that shows war with no filter, no glossy heroics. Just what it is.

santasa99 Obviously ant-war film can suck as well. Also, I suppose that Hitler, if lived long enough, God forbid, would ordered one just like this - where all sides are equally bad, where Jews are equally wrong & equally responsible - well equally my @ss. What's more cynical then moral equalization between victim & executioner, that seek to whitewash reality of war & crime itself, while rewriting history using apologia & ambiguities. I will admit, though, Stone made a good decision when he sent his script to Belgrade based director. Story goes, he noticed him for his "eye & photography" earlier. Indeed, film is visually beautiful & moody - that's about all that is good about it.At the beginning of this propaganda flick viewers are immediately introduced to common Islamophobic trope, so prevalent in todays political and media discourse: it paint adherents of Islam with a one broad brush, regardless of their race, ethnicity & cultural background - basically, Muslim here is absolutely identical faceless other to Muslim anywhere and everywhere. Because of Islam, you see. Islam is supposedly so inherently evil, so corrupt, that it turns persons into clones of each other, into some sort of zombies. So, without any background elaboration, viewer is lead to accept that main character logic isn't flawed, although his action upon that logic might be wrong, that is when he connect act of terrorism committed by people from the other side of the planet to people of Kosovo and Bosnia, of course only because both people happened to be Muslims - and so he decides to take revenge on them. Some viewer will react with rejection of his actions but only because it's a revenge, and revenge is bad, while much lesser number will reject it because entire logic is actually absolutely flawed - this connection between terrorists and Bosnians is still bogus, no matter how perfidious and cunning is the attempt to inject it into film's narrative. It's a deliberate framing of Muslims (all & everywhere): on screen Bosnians are equally evil if not worse as those terrorists them self. From here underlying moral equalization spews and gets worse with every frame.Some noticed how others complained of possible (certain) pro-Serbian bias. They ask why, & say don't get it. Others try to explain how filmmakers meant ant-war-this, ant-vendetta-that. As one reviewer writes even if it carries pro-Serbian bias, as long as we see one Serb is sadist, all is OK. He writes: "Inevitably, some have accused Saviour of bias, though an American film, the director is a Serb...; with such emotive subject partiality would hardly be surprising. Indeed, the film does not flinch from discussing atrocities committed by Bosnian Muslims. Those who accuse this film of being pro-Serb, however, should consider that one of the most hateful characters in the whole film,...is himself a Serb." Another: "I am surprised & saddened that there are still some folks here at the forum fighting over its anti/pro Muslim/Serbian credentials. There is no winner in any war - only despair & death & at times, a faint glimmer of hope." Reading through comments you will hardly be able to draw that conclusion. Actually, most (re)viewers thinks exactly what I said before: everyone are equally bad & responsible. And that's what this film makes a propaganda. One reviewer said "you don't hate Serbs, Croatians or Bosnians, you hate war". Of course we hate war, & little by little we think everyone is equally responsible for its beginning, all suffered equally, civilians on both sides were stricken equally by its horrors - so it must be all sides are equally potent, bad & responsible! Well that's utter bs. It's an arrogant & dishonest attempt to rewrite history & make an apologia for Serbian aggression on Bosnia, while blaming the victim. It's disgusting effort to invoke bogus debate, while whitewashing and justifying ethnic cleansing, & legitimizing persistent Bosnian genocide denial.More comments revealing impression obtained upon deceitful subtext & bogus pretense of making ant-war film, which both thrives on faulty perception based on ignorance (few books on Bosnia would do a miracle): "10/10'tijuanadonkey', USA, Best movie on the subject so far, 2006 Unlike many that take sides & immediately turn off this is one I could recommend... No one here is a good guy, in fact everyone is bad to a degree, especially when you understand who everyone is... nothing good came out of a war that destroyed a beautiful nation & turned brother vs. brother in the name of fighting ethnic war from ancient history."; or "Michael Markham, UK, Brilliant, 2002 I agree with other reviewers...extraordinary movie. I worried about the apparent American slant at the beginning...I saw it with a Bosnian Muslim friend (even though he was the bad guys in the movie) he was also deeply moved. Clearly the horror & cruelty was on both sides."; or "9/10 Raegan Butcher, USA, Some people have claimed this is a racist film. I do not see it that way. This film shows everyone in a bad light."Bizarre! Moral equalization of victim & executioner - that's an ultimate bs., a brazen abuse of art. It's an arrogant & dishonest attempt to rewrite history & make an apologia for Serbian genocide, while blaming the victim. It's an effort to invoke bogus debate where there is non. Serbian media take this goal seriously & as extremely important. Find more about nature of Bosnian War, what, how & why it happened in books by prominent UK & US historian scholars like Marko Attila Hoare, Noel Malcolm, Robert Donia, John A.V. Fine Jr. & others. For anti-war film based on Bosnian war try "Welcome to Sarajevo" & "No Man's Land"; for anti-war film in general "The 25th Hour"!

Tinku Of the best of movies I've ever watched. The only movie thats ever made me cry... Must watch, though not a Hollywood movie ! Needs a bit of patience too, though, trust me its simply worth it. Starts with a demoted soldier, doing sorta soul searching. And then he's involved with this baby and woman in the Bosnian civil war. To start with, the baby's just a nuisance to them, then he's influenced and finally greatly moved. He fights odds to get the baby and the mother out alive. Towards the end, the mother sacrifices her life for the baby. This one scene is worth a hundred "Pianists" ! .......................................