CommentsXp Best movie ever!

BoardChiri Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

horus-ankh This movie really is like Snatch and Lock stock and two smoking barrels. Criminal comedy, dark comedy, but its there - the whole tongue in cheek approach to Russian mafia reality in the 90's. It is exceptionally well cast and the characters all have clear cut roles and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. It does not try to be anything more then it is, and it does an awesome job of it. The ending scene is the most merry one to date. The dialogue is witty, and a certain scene involving weaponry does justice to Long stock's "Its me bren gun" scenario. The only real problem, and this is not the film's fault, is that it sounds and feels better in its original Russian, leaving those with either dubbed (oh no!) or subtitled (meh) copies with less of an experience - but this is pure bias :P Again, I wish for people to see that genius does in fact exist abroad.

dicorp This is one of those hate it or love it movies. I personally love this film.For one the dialogue is witty, moronic and amazing at the same time. The acting is nicely done, the soundtrack is amazing as usual. All in all, the life of crime during the 90's in provincial Russia is accurately portrayed.The action scenes are great and plentiful so its easy to pay attention. Not like its trying to deliver a philosophical message. The plot is very simple and the characters are memorable.If however,you are a sensitive viewer, stay away. There is a generous amount of graphic violence, torture, politically incorrect ideas and mild language. If you are a cynic or a Russian angry at the government of the time and this kind of material brings back bad memories, the black humour in this film will not be to your liking, so pass this one up. But if your are looking for a fun way to spend a little less than two hours, don't mind some blood and have an open mind, give this a try.

DrakonScorpionovich This movie has one huge problem. There is no plot. None whatsoever. Almost every character (except the main ones) appears on screen for a few minutes to be killed off in the next scene. It is a pity that such an interesting cast is not used in the best way. They simply do not have time to do anything. There are only few moments which are original and funny. Everything else can be categorized as borrowed, someone is getting killed, or some random event is initiated with some transitions in between. It is an action film with lots of killing so you won't be bored. However if you want something more sensible or interesting I recommend watching something else.

Zima Filippov This movie is basically 'who's who' in Russian movie industry today. Some of the actors appear for no reason at all and their characters could be skipped all together. Take Andrey Panin, Tatiana Dogileva or Renata Letvinova (!!!) They are all established stars, so what the hell were they doing there? But those are only bit parts. ALL of the characters (and the line-up seems to be never-ending) are played by famous Russian theater, TV, film and music stars. Even Oscar winner and "Russian Spielberg", Nikita Mikhalkov is here! I bet the rest of productions in Moscow were shut down, due to shortage of stars. So, once again, what were they doing there? The answer is simple - they all were there to have fun. While it might have been OK elsewhere, it's somewhat distracting here. The movie takes cues from Guy Ritchie's productions like Snatch and most likely Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, as the plot throws all sorts of different groups of characters in different situations and then makes them interact with each other. There are numerous similarities between the two movies, including drugs plot-line, inclusion of dimwitted criminals, several gangs, etc. But the difference is - Guy Ritchie knows what a subtlety is and it seems that Alexei Balabanov doesn't. They both play with violence, but Balabanov approaches it like a maniac hungry for blood. Maybe he should have made a gory horror movie instead? Don't get me wrong, I'm all for gore and blood, if it's appropriately set up and done. But when we get two consecutive graphic shots to the head (Russian roulette style)... it's not funny, or witty, or stylish, or anything! In fact, it achieves only one thing - destroys the mood.The ending of the film is by far it's weakest part. It was quick, absurd and completely unsatisfactory. A terribly overlong scene leads up to it, so when it is over, I bet many people scratched their heads and wandered why the film-makers bothered to set it up so meticulously.All of the shortcomings notwithstanding, it was a fairly fun movie, with a lot funny moments and lines. Heavy-handed direction by Alexei Balabanov didn't bother much, as all of the attention is given to action and characters. Most of the actors did fantastic jobs, especially the three leads – Alexei Panin, Dmitri Dyuzhev and Nikita Mikhalkov. I wish a bit more time was spend in the editing room and some 25 liters of fake blood (of reported 50) would be cut, as well as several minutes of the film. Then it could have been perfect and standing on it's own against it's American and British counterparts.