I feel (from what little Russian I speak) the translation is pretty accurate here, which is a shame because this movie makes little sense.
One one hand, you have high tech Moscow, with very clear nods to Blade Runner, and on the other hand the Military is still using 1960s BTR-60s (8 wheeled APCs). It's possible the director was attempting to make a subtle jab at the Russian gov't today, with the haves and have nots, but I"m not convinced this is accurate.
The plot is the major downfall here, with long-winded exposition dumps at every turn. The director seems not to have heard the phrase "show, don't tell" as some of the exposition is vomited forth for minutes at a time, and seemingly go on forever. Worse still, the central plot point is laughably nonsensical.
Very few of the characters show any emotion whatsoever, and again, it's possible they were going for the deep stoic look, the worn out soldier just trudging through his job, but it's not properly portrayed as such so the acting comes off at stilted, wooden, flat.
Much of the military tactics used in the film were also a matter of form over function, and even non-military watchers can see where certain scenes were set up to look cool, as opposed to being logical, this too, detracts from the film.
There are a few subplots that could have been trimmed from the runtime to tighten up the film (clocking in at over 2 hours) but like the last big action film from Russia, The Guardians, they seem to think more is better, and that's not the case.
As others have stated, it's a quarantine watch, little more. There is a kernel of an interesting film buried within the 2+ hours, but like the Phantom Menace, it could have done with an Phantom Edit.
You are not missing anything by not seeing this.
The plot is the major downfall here, with long-winded exposition dumps at every turn. The director seems not to have heard the phrase "show, don't tell" as some of the exposition is vomited forth for minutes at a time, and seemingly go on forever. Worse still, the central plot point is laughably nonsensical.
Very few of the characters show any emotion whatsoever, and again, it's possible they were going for the deep stoic look, the worn out soldier just trudging through his job, but it's not properly portrayed as such so the acting comes off at stilted, wooden, flat.
Much of the military tactics used in the film were also a matter of form over function, and even non-military watchers can see where certain scenes were set up to look cool, as opposed to being logical, this too, detracts from the film.
There are a few subplots that could have been trimmed from the runtime to tighten up the film (clocking in at over 2 hours) but like the last big action film from Russia, The Guardians, they seem to think more is better, and that's not the case.
As others have stated, it's a quarantine watch, little more. There is a kernel of an interesting film buried within the 2+ hours, but like the Phantom Menace, it could have done with an Phantom Edit.
You are not missing anything by not seeing this.