Mr. Brehznev, you are reading the Olympic Rings.

Rating: Null/10 (13 March 2003)

Movie all in all is good, but too claustrophobic. They must have blown the entire budget on the opening scenes which are quite amazing, but then the remainder is all backlot, soundstage monotony. It got real old for me. The story, interesting though it was, didn't need to be this long in the telling. Performances are good; Hoskins is great as Khrushchev, and Jude Law excellent as the silent hero. Rachel Weisz, Hey Now! Ed Harris, he's not so good. Gives an uncharacteristically doped performance. He was probably paid by the word. The one thing I do commend is the treatment of the Soviets as protagonist. Just who was a bigger maniac Stalin or Hitler, isn't a question worth contemplating. The film was more than fair in its treatment of the average Red Army soldier. Showing the brutality of the Stalin regime towards its own citizens, especially its military personnel, as the average Vlad lived the Orwellian nightmare firsthand. Stalin sent 2 million of his men to their deaths, yes 2 million, to ensure the city that bore his name did not fall to the Nazis. Huge price, but probably as much as anything, the battle of Stalingrad ended Hitler's aspirations, and made Eastern Europe safe for the subsequent Soviet Cold War occupation. Lousy Commies.