Very good but lost much of its power.

Rating: 8/10 (2 October 2001)

The main problem with The Battleship Potemkin is that it is a propaganda film, meant to celebrate Communism and the Soviet state it was made in. It tells of the rebellion of the crew of a battleship in Czarist Russia, which is joined by a rebellion on land by oppressed peasants. There are no well-defined characters, and a minimal narrative. In addition, the violence depicted has lost much of its shock value, making the film that much less potent.
That said, this is still a very well-made and relatively powerful film, for what it is. The cinematography and editing are both good-looking and eye-catching, even if some of the sequences seem to drag on for no good reason while nothing seems to happen. The famous massacre scene makes up for lost power with technique, as faceless machinelike soldiers steadily march towards the all-too-human crowd. Also, the climactic confrontation is laced with tension as the Potemkin sail toward the Czarist fleet, while the camera cuts from the Potemkin preparing for battle and calling upon its fellow soldiers to join them, and the approaching fleet.
Many consider this to be Eisenstein's ("the king of cinema", to some) best film. While it is very good, I would recommend his "The Strike" which deals with a similar event and which I found to be even more powerful.