Stalingrad

Stalingrad (2013)

48% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 62 reviews)

Runtime: 131 minutes

Directed by: Fedor Bondarchuk

Starring: Mariya Smolnikova, Yanina Studlina, Pyotr Fyodorov, Thomas Kreschmann

From: Art Pictures Studio/Non-Stop Productions

I will presume that most people in the United States don't know this is a popular Russian 3D film from last year that shockingly was released this past Friday on a little over 300 IMAX screens across the United States for one week and a lot of the traffic it does get is from people seeing it on the marquee once they get to the theatre and once they're told by the ticket seller what it's all about, they take a chance on it. I know I haven't seen any advertising for it and I stumbled across it even being a thing while looking up theatre listings on AMC's website.

Not surprisingly, after it leaves theatres tonight it'll likely make around 800,000 dollars at the box office and that's with IMAX 3D prices. The fact that this Russian film was released here when many Americans are pissed at Russia in general (I'll leave it at that to avoid talking about world politics here) couldn't have helped either. Talk about rotten timing for Sony, who put it out in the United States. It was quite the risk for Sony to put out a Russian film in Russian and German that's subtitled and I figured I should give them a few bucks as that may help them continue to do things like release these random foreign movies, whether it be this or the awesome The Raid: Redemption or The Raid sequel, which is out later in the month and I am REALLY looking forward to it.

To take the plot description from Letterboxd: "Drama set in 1942, during one of the most important battles of World War II, which stopped the progress of Nazi forces and turned the tide of war in favor of the Allies. The Soviet army mounts a counter-attack on the Nazi forces that occupy half of Stalingrad on the other side of the Volga, but the operation to cross the river is unsuccessful. A few soldiers who managed to get to the other side take refuge in a house on the bank of Volga. Here they find a girl who didn’t escape when the Germans came. While the whole might of the German army descends onto them, the heroes of Stalingrad experience love, loss, joy and the sense of ultimate freedom that can only be felt by those about to die."

Yep, much of the movie is either spent at the house with a handful of Russian soldiers and an attractive young 18 year old girl who stays around just because (Smolnikova) and you also sometimes spend times with a German soldier and the camp he's in and he has a Russian girl who he holds against her will. He is played by Kreschmann, a German actor who was in the likes of King Kong, Blade II and Wanted and you'd likely recognize him. He also has what I understand will be a decent role in next year's Avengers movie.

This movie does have quite a bit of melodrama, which is OK with me. You have the guys fighting over the young girl, because they're men. You find out about their background, and I know why people wouldn't care for that or seeing the relationship with the German and his girl, or that this looks at the huge battle on a small personal scale. I was fine with it.

What you care the most about with this... the action scenes and the effects. I say that they look real nice, especially considering the budget was estimated at what would be 30 million American dollars, a fraction of the bloated budget most Hollywood blockbusters are these days. The sound was LOUD and it sounded real good too. You see the expected war violence with physical fights, gun battles, and a lot of shit exploding and things being on fire. It was bitchin' to see in IMAX 3D. A lot of it was filmed on actual sets, which was appreciated by me.

Overall, I did enjoy this movie and I am glad I am one of the few who saw it this week. It's comparable to American action movies, both good and bad. At least Russia can do it too and put on fine entertainment. It was a hit in its home country and elsewhere, at least.

Oh, and I almost forgot: the movie is framed at the beginning and end by a Russian rescue team in Fukushima, Japan after the nuclear disaster and they help some trapped Germans. Really. I heard about this beforehand so I wasn't shocked or befuddled by how the movie began.

I will return tomorrow night.