Russian reviews of Mihalkov's Burnt Sun 2 and Burnt Sun 2:Citadel

These have to be by far the worst war movies created by Russia. Mihalkov clearly shows hes not fit for movie directing any more.
Burnts sun part 1



part 2





Citadel part 1
part 2

I only saw like the first half an hour or so with the drunk general and so on, and then later when they're trying to start the tank - but I really liked those 2 parts, thought they were great; especially the scene with the general.
Dunno about the rest of the movie.

Anyway, the Russian movie industry has entered a long period of crisis, ever since about the mid-2000s or so when they unanimously all decided to discard virtually everything that made them unique, and instead start from scratch by trying to borrow everything from another failing national movie industry - Hollywood.

I haven't watched one Russian movie for at least 5 years. Maybe just something in the TV room when I was in the forces; I don't remember anyway - nothing memorable to remember simple as that. It's all useless crap. All of it. Then again I haven't watched any new movies just generally for at least the past 5 years and have developed a deep loathing for Hollywood.

flamming_python wrote:I only saw like the first half an hour or so with the drunk general and so on, and then later when they're trying to start the tank - but I really liked those 2 parts, thought they were great; especially the scene with the general.
Dunno about the rest of the movie.

They might be fun but they have nothing to do with historical accuracy, something these 2 movies were advertised from the start for having. Also the CGI models of the stukas are awful and there is noexcuse for such a high budget movie for having them.

Maybe the movie wouldn't be hated so much if it was advertised for being in the same class as inglorious bastards(although that was also a dumb shitty movie) and not as something that's loaded with historical truth.

KomissarBojanchev wrote:

flamming_python wrote:I only saw like the first half an hour or so with the drunk general and so on, and then later when they're trying to start the tank - but I really liked those 2 parts, thought they were great; especially the scene with the general.
Dunno about the rest of the movie.

They might be fun but they have nothing to do with historical accuracy, something these 2 movies were advertised from the start for having. Also the CGI models of the stukas are awful and there is noexcuse for such a high budget movie for having them.

Maybe the movie wouldn't be hated so much if it was advertised for being in the same class as inglorious bastards(although that was also a dumb shitty movie) and not as something that's loaded with historical truth.

There are always going to be movies that are failures. Maybe these directors will get the hint when their movies flop time after time. Don't worry, the movie industry will eventually be forced to change their ways.

Russian movie industry of today is completely crap and sinks lower and lower. And that comes from me who grew up on Soviet/Russian movies. Some shows are OK though

If the russian film industry created a war movie covering the struggle of the soviet marines and black sea fleet in the same technique as "The Pacific" or about the Pe-2 or Il-2 pilots in the same way as "Battle of Britain" using comperatively realistic battle sequences it would be a dream come true.

KomissarBojanchev wrote:If the russian film industry created a war movie covering the struggle of the soviet marines and black sea fleet in the same technique as "The Pacific" or about the Pe-2 or Il-2 pilots in the same way as "Battle of Britain" using comperatively realistic battle sequences it would be a dream come true.

Yes. Yes it would.

I can think of hundreds of heroic scenarios during the Eastern front of WW2.

Of course they'll probably then go and fuck it up adding the usual useless extra BS

flamming_python wrote:

KomissarBojanchev wrote:If the russian film industry created a war movie covering the struggle of the soviet marines and black sea fleet in the same technique as "The Pacific" or about the Pe-2 or Il-2 pilots in the same way as "Battle of Britain" using comperatively realistic battle sequences it would be a dream come true.

Yes. Yes it would.

I can think of hundreds of heroic scenarios during the Eastern front of WW2.

Of course they'll probably then go and fuck it up adding the usual useless extra BS

Like they messed up 9 Rota? That was absolutely garbage, especially that scene with the girl the guys were porking.

sepheronx wrote:

flamming_python wrote:

KomissarBojanchev wrote:If the russian film industry created a war movie covering the struggle of the soviet marines and black sea fleet in the same technique as "The Pacific" or about the Pe-2 or Il-2 pilots in the same way as "Battle of Britain" using comperatively realistic battle sequences it would be a dream come true.

Yes. Yes it would.

I can think of hundreds of heroic scenarios during the Eastern front of WW2.

Of course they'll probably then go and fuck it up adding the usual useless extra BS

Like they messed up 9 Rota?  That was absolutely garbage, especially that scene with the girl the guys were porking.

That movie seemed like it was glorifying the mujahedeen by showing how stupid soviet command and soldiers are. I know they seemed like they wanted more epicness by showing almost the entire company killed but to be honest for me showing what really happened historicly would still be enjoyable to watch. The real battle was just as hard fought but the mujahedeen never broke entirely the defences.

sepheronx wrote:

flamming_python wrote:

KomissarBojanchev wrote:If the russian film industry created a war movie covering the struggle of the soviet marines and black sea fleet in the same technique as "The Pacific" or about the Pe-2 or Il-2 pilots in the same way as "Battle of Britain" using comperatively realistic battle sequences it would be a dream come true.

Yes. Yes it would.

I can think of hundreds of heroic scenarios during the Eastern front of WW2.

Of course they'll probably then go and fuck it up adding the usual useless extra BS

Like they messed up 9 Rota?  That was absolutely garbage, especially that scene with the girl the guys were porking.

It was garbage for a whole number of reasons. The poor special effects, the unrealistic combat, the puzzling and out of place romantic flashback sequences of one of the characters (or was that Grozovye Vorota?), the bad acting & direction in places, mediocre camera angles, unmemorable music score, the silly village sequence with some random split-secound shots of some old men secounds before the entire village was erased by a Grad rocket salvo that failed to stir any emotions and was just amateurishly done, the historical inaccuracy of the scenario and general misrepresentation of the war in Afghanistan, the country itself and so on.

Grozovye Vorota is basically much of the same thing yet it pulled it off a lot better IMO. Far from perfect; they had many of the same faults - but it was a good mini-series on the whole, I enjoyed it.

As for scenes like with the girl - I'm not against these sorts of side-stories in war movies. They bring the viewer a closer connection with the characters, develop the back-story and you can't have a film that is just 100% about war and fighting all the time. Look at all the great war movies - Saving Private Ryan, Platoon, Full Metal Jacket... all of them build a great connection between the characters and the viewer;
Saving Private Ryan via emotions, attention to detail and back-story
Platoon via philosophy and the film focusing exclusively on the main character and his perspective of events.
Full Metal Jacket via dialogue, good music and a touch of humour.

So side-stories and plot-building elements add to the film, so long as they are done WELL. But if they are done POORLY - then they'll just end up dragging down the film and boring the viewer who only wants to skip to the action - which then turns out to be craptastic and bland too - like in 9ya Rota.

9ya Rota was one of the Russian film industry's first films where they really tried to purposely discard all they knew before, and just focusing on ripping everything off from Hollywood. Well naturally as a first attempt, they did everything poorly.
Now, some 8 years later, the Russian film industry has become better at borrowing concepts and techniques from Hollywood.
And the films are still crap.

KomissarBojanchev wrote:

sepheronx wrote:

flamming_python wrote:

KomissarBojanchev wrote:If the russian film industry created a war movie covering the struggle of the soviet marines and black sea fleet in the same technique as "The Pacific" or about the Pe-2 or Il-2 pilots in the same way as "Battle of Britain" using comperatively realistic battle sequences it would be a dream come true.

Yes. Yes it would.

I can think of hundreds of heroic scenarios during the Eastern front of WW2.

Of course they'll probably then go and fuck it up adding the usual useless extra BS

Like they messed up 9 Rota?  That was absolutely garbage, especially that scene with the girl the guys were porking.

That movie seemed like it was glorifying the mujahedeen by showing how stupid soviet command and soldiers are. I know they seemed like they wanted more epicness by showing almost the entire company killed but to be honest for me showing what really happened historicly would still be enjoyable to watch. The real battle was just as hard fought but the mujahedeen never broke entirely the defences.

IMO if they did 9ya Rota more like the film; The Thin Red Line; only naturally in the role of defense rather than attack - it would have been spectacular IMO.
Tension and fright building up, subordinates desperately arguing with their superior officers; all the while the clock is ticking - the film switching from one shot and one scene to another one 10 minutes later at another part of the line.

Not a fan of both Grozovyy Vorota and 9 Rota.

Stalingrad is going to be the latest "historical" film with absurd use of CGI.

our historical films seems to be often ... overdramtic, but 9 rota was not to bad made