Review by Stephen Gaffney
Directed by: Dzhanik Fayziev, Ivan Shurkhovetskiy
Starring: Ilya Malakov, Aleksey Serebryakov, Aleksandr Ilin, Timofey Tribuntsev, Yuliya Khlynina
Furious (Legenda O Kolovrate) is your run of the mill historical action film. Part true, mostly fantasy. Our hero Kolovrate's 13th century village is destroyed by the Mongol army; murder and mayhem ensues. In turn, as you would imagine, Kolovrate exacts his revenge in this Russian tale told in an epic fashion.
First things first. There are two versions of this film floating around. Be sure to buy the Russian language version. The English dub is quite possibly the most rushed job ever and will completely take you out of the story. There is not much dialogue, so even if you are not too keen on subtitles, give this a go.
If you have seen Zack Snyder's 300, you have basically seen Furious already. Story wise they are almost identical. CGI wise, again almost identical, which we must commend the makers of this film on. With a budget of 6 Million Euros, they managed to pull off a film comparable to a 65 Million Dollar Hollywood blockbuster... That also brings me to the criticism. I don't see the point in this film having been made. They are that similar.
Forgetting 300, which is hard to do, Furious is an entertaining film. The CGI is exceptionally well done. You are aware that it is computer generated but it looks great and does not distract you from the film. There are some scenes which I thought were shot on location, but after seeing a video FX breakdown on YouTube, I was wrong. The whole film was green screened.
The acting is nothing to boast about, but also nothing to complain about either. Dialogue is minimal and delivered in a theatrical way, which is clearly intended. Shawshank Redemption acting isn't required or desired here.The rest of the film is action heavy. Which again is very theatrical and entertaining. The battle violence is very well done; it is visceral in places. It beats 300 for action set pieces in my book.
The cinematography is beautiful. The camera glides in and out of epic battles effortlessly. This is mixed with some quick editing which adds up to grade A entertainment to the naked eye. But this is to be expected from a film that was shot completely in a sound studio with top notch equipment (look up KIRA camera operation) which would make this hard to mess up. But thankfully it doesn't ever mess up.
As already mentioned, the film is action heavy. The directors, Dzhanik Fayziev and Ivan Shurkhovetskiy, made a sensible decision here. It isn't Mad Max action levels, but you are never more than 10 minutes away from an eye pleasing battle. The pacing is well handled in the almost two hour run time, which for a story of this magnitude, may seem a bit on the short side, but it never feels rushed. Gladiator (2000) has an almost identical story and clocks in at three hours. Yet Gladiator never entered my mind while viewing the screener. The reasoning behind this is the visuals are comparable to - and yes I am being repetitive - 300!
Deciding to buy this film really boils down to one thing. Have you seen 300? If yes, do you want to see it in Russian? If you have not seen Gerard Butler roaring his head off, I actually recommend you view Furious instead. The CGI in furious is surprisingly better and the battle scenes a little more realistic.
I'm giving this film a solid 2 1/2 stars. We have seen it all before yet it is still entertaining. What is more exciting is the fact that this was made for 6 Million Euro, which is insanely frugal.
I just hope this is the start of Russian filmmakers being more bold and creative. Imagine a completely new Russian superhero film in the vain of Watchmen crossed with Eastern Promises. Imagine an original, big budget (in Russian industry standards) movie once a year instead of another remake of Spiderman or The Hulk from the Hollywood 'we will just make it again' regime. It actually would not surprise me one bit if this was remade in America.
I am very excited for the future of Russian cinema and will certainly be keeping a close eye on what is coming next. Vladimir Putin, who gave this film the go ahead for funding, loved Furious and after viewing it, requested some of its props to keep. The future of the Russian film industry does look bright.
Furious is on DVD/VOD now.
"The freshest take on the gangster narrative to arrive in decades."— ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ง๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ฃ.๐๐ ๐ ๐ฌ (@themoviewaffler) May 18, 2019
BIRDS OF PASSAGE is in UK/ROI cinemas now.
Read @hilliseric's reviewhttps://t.co/v7A8vuVfXI pic.twitter.com/XnNImTX7jO