The year: 2022. A Marine Captain is sentenced to the dreaded prison. His escapade forms a high action adventure, with special effects as a highlight.

A brilliant take on the tragedy that beset his country, Danis Tanovic's directorial debut No Man's Land is a bleak comedy set during the war in Bosnia. The story begins as a group of Bosnian soldiers emerge from a fog to realise that they have strayed into a thin strip of land unclaimed by either side in the conflict. A bloody sequence of events ensues, which results in a disputed trench being occupied by weathered Bosnian veteran Branko Djuric and his opposite number, Rene Bitorajac's Serbian greenhorn. There's a standoff between them, complicated by Djuric's injured colleague lying atop a "bouncing mine". He's a human booby trap--move him and the everything within 50 yards will be blown sky-high. As the blue-hatted, ineffectual UN are called in, and with the world's media, led by the late Katrin Cartlidge as a rather snotty BBC reporter, swiftly arriving on the scene, this single trench becomes an almost Beckettian metaphor for the war.

Tanovic is not especially concerned with taking sides in the Bosnian-Serb conflict. Whatever its causes, both sides are seen to be as bad, or more accurately as desperate, as each other. That it's hard, for outsiders in particular, to tell who's who much of the time only heightens the irony. There's anger at the media intrusiveness ("Does our misery pay well?" screams Djuric at the reporters), but what's really conveyed is a sense of the absurdity, futility and intractability of war, as summarised in the final image. From the grotesque mess of conflict, Tanovic has fashioned a perfectly judged and beautifully executed movie.

On the DVD: No Man's Land is presented in widescreen with a Dolby 5.1 soundtrack. There are no extras, other than an English language option for the hard of hearing. --David Stubbs

The story line of No Mercy may seem familiar: to avenge his partner's murder and uncover the killer, a tough Chicago cop comes to Louisiana and finds himself embroiled with a beautiful and enigmatic blonde and a creepy crime lord. But the way this film executes a seemingly standard plot is unique, entertaining and effective. Richard Gere as the cop Eddie Jillette is an appropriate fish-out-of-water, uncovering a complex and frightening underworld. Under Richard Pearce's skilful direction both he and Kim Basinger (as Michel Duvall) are credibly drawn to each other as they're accidentally handcuffed and running through the eerie bayou. But also credit James Carabatsos's script which appropriately captures Jillette's grief and obsession, his anger and confusion, his growing understanding and affection for Michel. There's a particularly well-done love scene, borne out of passion and desperation and the chemistry between Gere and Basinger is very evident. Good support comes from William Atherton as the fey attorney Allan Deveneux, Jeroen Krabbé as the evil Losado, George Dzundza as Captain Stemkowski, Bruce McGill as Lieutenant Hall and the late Ray Sharkey as Angles Ryan. No Mercy, like Angel Heart before it, uses its mystical, magical Louisiana setting to its best advantage; it's beautiful, yet frightening; mysterious, yet compelling--like Michel and like the movie itself. --N F Mendoza, Amazon.com