alexanderdemidov

The title was recommended to me by my daughter. I enjoyed the movie because it's gorgeous but understood very little about the story being told - I guess my fifty years of experience watching all kinds of movies in several languages that I speak wasn't enough to prepare me for this viewing experience. You can, however, have it all explained to you on the Internet.

I find the book offers a better treatment of the subject; the mini turns the story into a Hollywood "by-the-numbers" thriller more or less. Still, I enjoyed it.

I'm a bookworm and normally prefer the book to any film adaptation. This, however, is the rare exception to the rule. Motivated by all the rave reviews of the series, I got an audio book (this is my medium of choice as I have no time for reading) in an English translation, as I usually do before watching the film/TV show, but got bored an hour or so into the story and abandoned it. I nearly decided to give the show a miss, too. Boy, oh boy, am I glad that I didn't! It proved to be one of the best viewing experiences of my life - not least because the German is clear and easy to follow (albeit with the help of German subtitles as my comprehension of spoken German is rather limited, but I read it easily). All actor performances were great, and it was a real treat to see so many fresh faces. So all in all, this is as good as it gets.

The film opens with an interminable drive, a throwback to Solaris (1972), and goes downhill from there. Anna Churina is easy on the eye, but you need more than a pretty face to make a movie work.

The war scenes are great, but the modern-day stuff and the fantasy angle are total rubbish, but with impressive CGI.

I lived in Siberia between 1963 and 1973 and I can testify that the film is as true to the reality of life there as it gets.

I only watched this film because I wanted to practise my Spanish and didn't expect to enjoy the flick. In fact, it had sat on my hard drive for nearly a year before I got around to finally watching it. Imagine my surprise and delight when the movie kept me on the edge of my seat for the duration. It is formulaic, to be sure, like most action films, but still has enough twists to keep up the suspense. Plus, the acting is great across the board. So, for those like me who always want more of the same, it hits the spot.

The film harks back to the good old days of French cinema gems such as La chèvre (1981), but has nothing new to offer and doesn't measure up to those classics. Good for a few laughs or for practising your French (my case), but little more.