Gut wrenching and well acted. Why did this get such bad ratings/reviews?

Rating: 8/10 (28 January 2016)

I had never heard of this movie, but when I saw that it starred Tom Hardy, recorded and watched it. I found it to be riveting, and with a depth and beauty rarely seen in movies of these times. The box office failure is very similar to another beautiful film; Cinderella Man, starring Russell Crowe and Renee Zellweger, that, (at least), got the reviews/credits it so deserved, unlike this movie. The typical movie going audience does not appreciate depth as much as flash, it seems. I almost stopped watching due to the intensity and utter bleakness of the setting, but then realized that was how damned good of a job they did to suck you into the pit of despair that was Russia of that time. I am so glad I stuck it out. I did not read the book, and NEVER hold a movie to the same expectation of detail in the book. It never works out that way, so why complain? All in all, this was well worth watching, in my opinion.