Oh dear, I expected to see some war actions like how the city was attacked on first days, more changes of battle place, more focused on time line of the greatest Stalingrad events. More passion in peaceful moments or some cross-story in nowadays would make this film even more dramatic. But this movie disappointed me. And this is why.
This is a Russian film, so expect to see much of unnecessary talks and quite a bit shots that tells you nothing at all. Russian acting is Russian acting - nothing new in this case, except actors from abroad. So you have to deal with this funny and sometimes even irritating acting.
The Story. Well, movie starts from very strange actions in Japan and ends like that, too. I didn't feel necessity of these Intros and Outros. Main action starts somewhere in the middle of the battle in the city of Stalingrad. Ban, bang, bang. Some awesome burning shots and then boom - action went away. And from there a love and revenge takes place. No big tragedies of starving or cold. I really missed the reality of Stalingrad. Instead you're given audio flashbacks/flash-forwards of main characters told by narrator. Blah, blah, blah. For what? Is it supposed to be documentary? I barely can say it's a movie about Stalingrad as the whole War Action. More like about one place particularly - House of Pavlov, which in my opinion had too be the MAIN TITLE and not Stalingrad. But then you may think more deeply - as it goes around one girl - maybe it could be Saving civil Katya" :) ? Oh, by the way, you get even two love stories in this movie, but none contains a lap-dance or passion, so it ruins the romantic side of the movie. The whole war strategy is a real mess here on both sides. I couldn't get it. It's not realistic to me somehow.
Characters. Well, their actions are mostly illogical as they fight for the love. They get outside without any commands given. Walking like a bosses in their own yard. Killing comrade from OTHER division for his thoughts about taking some action instead of sitting was also very strange behavior as it would get the killer to war court. And reaction of those folks after this non-sense just killed me. It was so unrealistic. There were other problems with logic in dialogs, too.
Technical side of the movie is done very very well. CGI effects and background are brilliant and I really enjoyed some of the action like tanks and mines scenes, but it lacks of really fast intense action scenes of soldier fight seen in Band of Brothers, The Pacific etc. Scenes that thrills you and makes you say - Oh, man. War is a such a terrible thing". Slow-mo scenes were... they were nice to see, but there was way too much of it. And not in particular scenes, in which slow-mo would really make you to feel for the character. Like the main hero is looking around and feels confused, scared in slow-mo. No, you won't get it here. Audio quality is outstanding, BUT as always and this drives me crazy as hell - some dialogs are very quiet (mainly problematic for Russian people).
This is a Russian film, so expect to see much of unnecessary talks and quite a bit shots that tells you nothing at all. Russian acting is Russian acting - nothing new in this case, except actors from abroad. So you have to deal with this funny and sometimes even irritating acting.
The Story. Well, movie starts from very strange actions in Japan and ends like that, too. I didn't feel necessity of these Intros and Outros. Main action starts somewhere in the middle of the battle in the city of Stalingrad. Ban, bang, bang. Some awesome burning shots and then boom - action went away. And from there a love and revenge takes place. No big tragedies of starving or cold. I really missed the reality of Stalingrad. Instead you're given audio flashbacks/flash-forwards of main characters told by narrator. Blah, blah, blah. For what? Is it supposed to be documentary? I barely can say it's a movie about Stalingrad as the whole War Action. More like about one place particularly - House of Pavlov, which in my opinion had too be the MAIN TITLE and not Stalingrad. But then you may think more deeply - as it goes around one girl - maybe it could be Saving civil Katya" :) ? Oh, by the way, you get even two love stories in this movie, but none contains a lap-dance or passion, so it ruins the romantic side of the movie. The whole war strategy is a real mess here on both sides. I couldn't get it. It's not realistic to me somehow.
Characters. Well, their actions are mostly illogical as they fight for the love. They get outside without any commands given. Walking like a bosses in their own yard. Killing comrade from OTHER division for his thoughts about taking some action instead of sitting was also very strange behavior as it would get the killer to war court. And reaction of those folks after this non-sense just killed me. It was so unrealistic. There were other problems with logic in dialogs, too.
Technical side of the movie is done very very well. CGI effects and background are brilliant and I really enjoyed some of the action like tanks and mines scenes, but it lacks of really fast intense action scenes of soldier fight seen in Band of Brothers, The Pacific etc. Scenes that thrills you and makes you say - Oh, man. War is a such a terrible thing". Slow-mo scenes were... they were nice to see, but there was way too much of it. And not in particular scenes, in which slow-mo would really make you to feel for the character. Like the main hero is looking around and feels confused, scared in slow-mo. No, you won't get it here. Audio quality is outstanding, BUT as always and this drives me crazy as hell - some dialogs are very quiet (mainly problematic for Russian people).