The Red Ghost (2020) User Reviews

The best film I've seen in days but my husband hated it.

[wsskfqy · 7/10 · 26 December 2023]

I don't particularly like Tarantino. My husband does. It reminds you more of a spaghetti western as it goes on, as the music slightly changes to the western twang soundtrack of Clint Eastwood movies.

However.... I found some of the other criticism here unjustified. I didn't think the acting was that wooden. Nazi soldiers in rank aren't going to show much character. People freezing to death in the snow are likely to be a bit stiff-faced. The humour wasn't way out ridiculous slapstick humour (like Tarantibo's deadly Western saloon turning into a vampire den. Instead, it was little things which could actually happen. As for the translations being wrong...I speak German and didn't think they were incorrect. I thought the young soldiers forced to translate death and bodily harm threats were actually Paraphrasing intentionally to try to help and calm people. In fact, I found THEIR acting really great. With very little change in facial expression, only their eyes, they managed to convey their horror and grief at at atrocities they were required to do.

And give them credit, it looked awfully cold!

Last, there was a good twist or two in the film

I liked it. Much much better than the last couple films I've seen.

He shows up, then he gone!

[wjosephjorob · 6/10 · 1 February 2022]

Goofy and aloof with some moments of humor, spaghetti western themed WORLD WAR 2 movie, a Fresh look with how the Nazi's and the Russian dealt with one another in war, loved the action sequences in this film, it had a go for broke attitude with the violence near the conclusion which helped this movie a lot in my opinion, the Red Ghost was a badass when he shows up, but the Russian villagers who were stuck on the farm stole the movie, yes it borrows from previous films, yes it's a little too modern with the dialog, but that not a bad thing, if you can find this film, and have free time to watch an international action film, this one is not bad.

Fun war movie tho nothing new

[supermellowcali · 7/10 · 2 February 2022]

I thought this was pretty well produced and acted. It was a bit slow, and it did bug me a little that it was dubbed in English (even tho the dubbing was well done) and probably would have been better in Russian and German with subtitles rather than English and German. I didn't see this as a Tarantino copycat or as a "fresh take," but it's better than a lot of the recent student-level movies.

[6.7] The horror through the scope

[cjonesas · 7/10 · 10 February 2024]

A stand-alone, presumably low-budget movie, showing realism to some degree, courage, fear, parts of horrors of war and the dedication and bravery that simple people not-cut-out for war went through.

It is more than mild, above-average (of course), could have cut through some dramatic and melodramatic moments to focus more on the fighting parts on both sides.

Recommended as part of Russian movies collection and library.

• Screenplay/storyline/plots: 6
• Development: 7.5
• Realism: 7
• Entertainment: 7
• Acting: 7.5
• Filming/photography/cinematography: 8
• VFX: 7.5
• Music/score/sound: 7
• Depth: 6.5
• Logic: 4.5
• Flow: 6.5
• Action/history/horror: 6.5
• Ending: 5.5.

Copy-Paste Tarantino

[mutnij · 7/10 · 24 July 2021]

Obviously director of this movie is a very big admirer of Tarantino's late creative work.

Russian here, don't recommend this one

[nigivysh · 3/10 · 4 September 2021]

The Red Ghost is a Russian historical thriller about the Second World War. It is set in Siberia during a cold winter in the year 1941. The red ghost itself is a myth in the German army about a Russian soldier who kills fascists by the hundreds all by himself. A whole army of well trained soldiers is sent to kill him and destroy the myth as it terrifies the Germans.

What has caught my attention about the movie in the first place was an article emphasizing the similarities between The Red Ghost and movies written and directed by Quentin Tarantino mentioning good comedy and plot twists.

The intriguing beginning of the story combined with the alleged Tarantino's style of writing and directing made me want to watch the movie and believe in it despite it being made in Russia.

I'm a big fan of Tarantino and his writing/directing style, he always manages to find the middle ground between absurdity and realism which makes his movies hillarious.

The director of The Red Ghost, however, didn't manage to do so, the absurdity stands out too much along with the sketchy jokes. I mean those kind of 'Here's a story of how a random Russian soldier showed that he is smarter and overall better than a French and British soldier' jokes.

You know that things get bad when the protagonist and the antagonist, who are desperately trying to kill each other, start a sword fight using their rifles instead of trying to shoot each other (at war).

It seems like at some point the director just stopped caring at all, because in some dialogues of the German soldiers their phrases aren't translated right. So, a German soldier says something in German, then you hear the translation (the official translation in the movie) in Russian, and it is a completely different phrase. It is pretty irritating to hear if you understand German.

There were two things I liked about the movie, though: The final scene actually has some meaning in it (anyone can be a hero, greetings from the Dark Knight).

The poster, it looks pretty cool

I fell for a well advertised, but poorly written Russian movie for the last time.

For the last time, right?

I do not recommend watching this movie, 3/10 from me. ❌

Agree with previous speaker

[mvezok · 8/10 · 18 August 2021]

A fresh Russian take. No epic battles, even though there´s lot of action. Just smaller groups of people fighting for survival, which brings them close to the viewer. And this mysterious "ghost". Russian western/eastern with a mystery.

There was a Yugoslav movie "Valter defends Sarajevo" - the most watched movie in China - an eastern, where the question was "who is Valter?". People grew tired of epic battles. The Russians seems to have discovered it too.

Since 2015 "Stalingrad", with it´s CGI epic battles it´s not interesting anymore. Russian cinematography has become Hollywood, soulless.

This brings it back to the roots of real people´s destiny.

Boring propaganda movie, Tarantino rip-off

[mrsazz · 3/10 · 1 February 2022]

This is a state-sponsored propaganda movie, and not a whole lot more than that. There is nothing original about this. The stylistic approach has been copied by x number of Tarantino films.

The characters are one-dimensional, and the action is slow and extremely predictable.

Through some kind of super-natural being this modern story telling attempts to rewrite history and add a new layer of heroism that was never there. It should not have been necessary, there are more than enough stories already that could have been retold in an interesting fashion, but the people behind this movie was very lazy and did not want to put in the extra effort that is required.

A fresh take on the Second World War

[mikhail-50204 · 8/10 · 21 July 2021]

It would not be an exaggeration to say that the Second World War became the one and only unifying idea of the modern Russian society. Virtually everyone agrees that this war was a defensive and a fair one.

The Russian government lacking in it's own unifying ideas leans heavily ( i would say somewhat too heavily) on this background and tries to unite the Russian society based on the heroic war which ended 75 years ago.

Therefore there is a multitude of new movies about the War and that period, mostly these are well funded by the state and yet they are sadly lacking in anything original.

Now, the Red Ghost (Krasnyy Prozrak) is very different. It is a relatively small in scale movie, with a very fresh perspective.

It hails an unknown soldier, who fights for his home country without any hope for recognition. Without any hope for anything really other than killing as many enemies as possible.

It is an "eastern" and in many ways it is quite similar to 'westerns": there is silent lone hero, there is a clearly defined main antagonist and there is a final stand down between the two.

Even the music, while being original is quite vividly reminiscent of Ennio Morricone's immortal melodies.

Perhaps this is not a movie, which you would would want to see repeatedly, and it is not perfectly made. Most of the characters remain just illustrations of the archetypes they symbolize, such as, for example an old village hunter, a dying ranking officer, a talkative joker of a soldier and so on. We do not really get to know any of them.

But this may not necessarily be something of a shortcome - the nature of an eastern (and western) is always like that - ultimately the fight matters more than the characters.

In certain scenes the camera work may have been better. And yet the fight scenes are filmed really well, one does feel the tension of the fight happening on the screen.

The movie certainly manages to deliver it's message and it does so elegantly. There is an uplifting feeling after watching the film.

Highly recommended.

Russia Rules

[westsideschl · 4/10 · 12 July 2022]

Russian citizens become Nazi hunters during WWII with one of them particularly adept at nomadic winter snow driven tracking with uncanny shooting skills. Very nationalistic promotional in line with Putin's nationalistic agenda (not surprising given Kremlin control of media).

A cross between a spaghetti western and a Russian war flick

[kdsemat · 10/10 · 6 June 2022]

I had fun watching it. I was expecting your usual Russian war flick with an invincible hero. Well it is that but with an Anthony Mann western approach with a touch of Sergio Leone. The tension was extremely high throughout with well placed humor. Very well done!

Watch the Ghost

[godfreecharlie · 8/10 · 28 October 2022]

I was quite impressed with every aspect of this production. I seen a number of Russian films and they do seem to insist on quality work. Artistic, realistic abilities are not short here. The plot is straight forward but the directing makes it so interesting, one yearns for the next scene, trying to anticipate upcoming action. Sets are real looking because there's no stage shooting, all on location. Props are as real as you can get but I'm sure someone can find a discrepancy. Wardrobe is accurate to the time and place as far as I can tell. But isn't that what the director wants? A believable story. One that just might be true?

I like this movie

[comehoang · 10/10 · 5 March 2022]

Like from Vietnam. I like movies about Soviet Union.

It seems that Russia rarely does about the subject of war in their past like European countries. I think their history is great and this is hard to describe in detail in the movie.

Ghosting

[kosmasp · 8/10 · 17 April 2022]

Right now Russians are not being looked upon favorably. It is more the Ukranians that most of the world sympathizes with - in this case you will be rooting for the Russians though, because this plays during the second world war. When Hitler and Nazi Germany tried to take over Russia amongst other countries.

Now this is fiction of course, but that is not a bad thing at all. It makes for good entertainment - if you don't mind the violence/gun fights that erupt. Of course it is clear who we are rooting for. I was surprised a bit that there is a lot of German talking in this, but it does make sense that Germans would talk in their native language to each other. It starts off with a bang, takes a bit of time to get going again, but when it does ... well it really does give you what you could hope for. Not a masterpiece, but a really well done movie in almost every respect (no pun intended)

A Good Combat Epic

[zardoz-13 · 8/10 · 18 November 2023]

Some critics have described Russian writer & director Andrey Bogatyrev's World War II outing "The Red Ghost: Nazi Hunter" as a horror movie. Indeed, what World War II movie unfolding in the dreadful conditions depicted here wouldn't qualify as a horror movie? Some have pointed out the elusive and seemingly indestructible nature of the eponymous character qualifies him as a horror movie bogeyman, perhaps like Jason in "The Friday the 13th" franchise. Despite its blood, gore, and high body count, I don't consider "The Red Ghost: Nazi Hunter" a horror movie. Unlike either Jason or Michael Myers in the "Halloweven" franchise, the title character here succumbs to battle fatigue. Eventually, he is slain by the arrogant Braun. Nevertheless, the legend of the "Red Ghost" lives on as somebody else steps up to shoulder the burden. Ultimately, the "Red Ghost" epitomizes the indomitable spirit that the Nazis have come to dread. Meanwhile, Bogatyrev's film pauses momentarily after the title character rescues a cowering actress and her actor husband from a Nazi firing squad before he vanishes into the snow-clad wilderness. These two people ask for his name, but he ignores them. Instead, the filmmakers superimpose the film title as a seeming response rather than have their hero reveal his identity. When we catch our first glimpse of the Red Ghost (Aleksey Shevchenkov), he looks as desperate as he is destitute, a pugnacious, lone-wolf sniper who has succeeded in slaughtering 61 German soldiers during a month and a half of warfare. However, before the film is over, you come to suspect he is just one of the many "Red Ghosts" that the impressionable enemy has conjured up like a bogeyman. The Germans entrust the capture and killing of this apparition to a young Nazi officer named Braun (Wolfgang Cerny) who isn't as impressed with the so-called 'Red Ghost,' until he finds his men and himself pitted against him.

Clocking in at a lean, mean 99-minutes, "Red Ghost" qualifies as a gripping, little low-budget, actioneer helmed with considerable style and wit. Composer Sergey Solovev's majestic orchestral soundtrack captures the atmosphere of the moment, while lenser Nikita Rozhdestvenskiy's widescreen cinematography gives this World War II combat thriller a sprawling sense of spectacle. Together, these two provide solid craftsmanship that heightens Bogatyrev's gritty combat yarn. Although the Russians aren't behaving themselves these days, "The Red Ghost: Nazi Hunter" celebrates their glory days when they were fighting an honorable war against the Germans. The cast is superb, and Wolfgang Cerny constitutes an excellent adversary. Moreover, in his arrogance, he discovers just how lethal the "Red Ghost" is when he takes time out to enjoy a sauna bath in a farmhouse. The title character intervenes and sends the naked Braun fleeing for his life wearing little more than a a woman's dress to cloak his nudity and a rifle. This amounts to the only comic relief we're granted when watching this violent epic. Happily, the filmmakers either edited out any Soviet ideology. Mind you, there are no patriotic speeches. Cleverly, Bogatyrev book ends his exemplary war movie with amusing scenes involving an actor (Michael Gor) who is a dead ringer for Adolf Hitler. "Red Ghost" confines its action to the ground during the winter, with the main fight occurring in an abandoned farm in the middle of nowhere. No armor or aircraft intervene in the action.

The man called The Red Ghost

[GoldenGooner04 · 8/10 · 12 November 2023]

Where is Clint Eastwood when you need him, a def rip-off of the Good, Bad and the Ugly, the fight with the Nazi and the Russian taken from the above film.

It's interesting reading the reviews on this before the Russian invasion of the Ukraine and the reviews after the invasion.

For me being in the UK, Hitler attacking Russia rather then crossing the channel might have saved us losing the war. Yes they started being friends but one review on here feels they become friends after this. Nope they started off being together then Hitler decided to screw Russia and went after them and that mistake a lot of people feel cost him the war.

Of course at the end of the war Berlin was split up with the Berlin Wall.

Anyway back to this film, I really liked it, I don't speak Russian or German so don't have a clue if the sub titles are correct? Would I watch it again most def.

Russia now is not as it was then, and in this film I can't help but cheer for them.

Fantastic Movie

[rayofone · 10/10 · 21 December 2023]

A fantastic adventurous movie. All the actors give a stellar performance. Interesting that this movie flew under the radar but it should not be. I would highly recommend.

The storytelling is nothing short of brilliant, with a plot that skillfully balances suspense, drama, and heartfelt moments. The characters are also well-developed, each brought to life by a stellar cast that delivers performances of the highest caliber. All the actors shine in their roles, creating a palpable on-screen chemistry that adds depth to the film.

I would definitely recommend this film for an evening where you want to kick back and have a good time.