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.
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.