While there's a lot absent in this movie that I usually take for granted in war movies (namely any infantry combat scenes), I really must applaud this effort on a few fronts.
For one, there is absolutely zero obvious CGI or visual effects in the film. We get to see lots of real vintage tanks including T34/85s, T34/86's, a Panzer IV, and mobile artillery doing what they do best. The loving attention to authentic tank combat reminds me a lot of the other quite recent Finnish film TALI IHANTALA 1944 which similarly failed otherwise to really make a splash.
There's a lot of good scope to the film, especially in terms of costume and sound design. Nothing looks cheap and the anachronisms are kept to an absolute minimum. It's a classically impressive Russian World War 2 adventure in many respects and looks almost like something Sergei Bondarchuk would do were he still been alive. Nicely, the structure is unconventional and it tackles a lot of philosophical areas of interest including mankind's fascination and relationship with warfare and destruction.
Storywise, it's really nothing new for people who haven't seen THE WHITE BUFFALO or THE CAR. I never would have ever imagined I'd ever see a combination of those two films in a war setting, but lo and behold this curiosity. At its core is a loose retelling of "Moby Dick" involving an obsessive quest by a mentally handicapped individual to destroy a mysterious antagonist, here a Tiger Tank that seemingly appears and disappears at will to wreak all kinds of havoc on the Soviet lines.
The biggest complaint here though beyond lack of action or originality is the poor attempt at mocking up a Tiger Tank. However at times from certain angles it works well enough if you squint, but almost unforgivable that the centerpiece of the film is so underwhelmingly realized.
All in all, I'd recommend viewing for the realistic tank combat scenes and lack of CGI. Had it not been for this film, I would be tempted to say that they don't make them like this anymore.
For one, there is absolutely zero obvious CGI or visual effects in the film. We get to see lots of real vintage tanks including T34/85s, T34/86's, a Panzer IV, and mobile artillery doing what they do best. The loving attention to authentic tank combat reminds me a lot of the other quite recent Finnish film TALI IHANTALA 1944 which similarly failed otherwise to really make a splash.
There's a lot of good scope to the film, especially in terms of costume and sound design. Nothing looks cheap and the anachronisms are kept to an absolute minimum. It's a classically impressive Russian World War 2 adventure in many respects and looks almost like something Sergei Bondarchuk would do were he still been alive. Nicely, the structure is unconventional and it tackles a lot of philosophical areas of interest including mankind's fascination and relationship with warfare and destruction.
Storywise, it's really nothing new for people who haven't seen THE WHITE BUFFALO or THE CAR. I never would have ever imagined I'd ever see a combination of those two films in a war setting, but lo and behold this curiosity. At its core is a loose retelling of "Moby Dick" involving an obsessive quest by a mentally handicapped individual to destroy a mysterious antagonist, here a Tiger Tank that seemingly appears and disappears at will to wreak all kinds of havoc on the Soviet lines.
The biggest complaint here though beyond lack of action or originality is the poor attempt at mocking up a Tiger Tank. However at times from certain angles it works well enough if you squint, but almost unforgivable that the centerpiece of the film is so underwhelmingly realized.
All in all, I'd recommend viewing for the realistic tank combat scenes and lack of CGI. Had it not been for this film, I would be tempted to say that they don't make them like this anymore.