Russian plot and Moscow scenes (Spoiler? - not sure on this)

Rating: Null/10 (16 August 2004)

I just saw the movie and quite enjoyed it. I think it is a pretty good action movie, and acting of main characters is very impressive. However, I was disappointed that a movie with a $75 million budget did so badly on Russian dialogues and scenes. I know what I am talking about  I am Russian myself and lived in Moscow for years before moving to England.
1. Quality of Russian dialogues and accent is very poor. Karl Urban plays a Russian killer Kirill (I just wonder, why the author chose this name for a killer  both 'killer' and 'Kirill' consist of the same letters but one). I understand the directors may have wanted to cast this Kiwi hunk for a killer role because of his looks. But in this movie he speaks only Russian and his accent is horrible. Russian dialogues are also very poor  mainly they are mere literal translations of English ones. Could not the directors afford to find him an accent coach? In one scene Kirill (Urban) says 'Poydu voz'mu dush' what is literal translation of 'I'll take a shower'. Russians never use this phrase when they intend to take a shower. They rather say 'Poydu v dush'  literally 'I'll go to the shower'. I find this amazing, particularly as many roles are played by Russians, including Oksana Akin'shina, who is a rising star of Russian movies. Anyone of the Russian cast would be able to correct these mistakes caused by literal translation of English script into Russian.
2. Scenes on the train are poorly written in terms of facts. Bourne (Matt Damon) boards Berlin-Moscow train at Berlin Ostbahnhof (Eastern Railway Station). I took the train umpteen times and I know for sure that it departs from Berlin Lichtenberg station. He shows his Russian passport to the train manager. Front page of his passport is visible to the viewers  we can see that his Russian surname is Kinyaev. However, it is spelled Kinyaev in Latin and Kiniyaev in Cyrillic script. This tiny difference is however visible and laughable. Then the train arrives in Moscow. Amazingly, it arrives at Kievsky railway station, which is destination point for trains from Kiev, Sofia or Belgrade, but not from Berlin. Berlin train always arrives at Moscow's Belorussky station, destination of trains from Berlin and Warsaw.
3. Car chase in Moscow is illogical. The chase seen shows parts of Moscow, which are distant from one another. Just before the car chase we Bourne near Frunzenskaya underground station. Then he enters a supermarket (interestingly, there is no big supermarket near Frunzenskaya's entrance). Just after we see Bourne steals a taxi car near Frunzenskaya we see him passing by Kitai-Gorod area, about 7-10 km to the northeast of Fruznenskaya. Then we see a chase going to various parts of Moscow, sometimes dozens kilometers apart. The final part of the chase is even more funny: Bourne and his chasers enter Tagansky tunnel on the Garden Ring road and then we see them in a much longer Lefortovsky tunnel on the Third Transportation Ring road, about 6 kms to the northeast. One can easily spot the difference between the two tunnels  Tagansky features yellow lights and Lefortovsky  white lights.
Thus, the Russian bit of the movie is not as well done as the rest of it. It is quite sad, taking into account that the movie in general is enjoyable. I find it hard to believe that Hollywood directors cannot do films with Russian content these days, when facts can be easily checked and Russian-speaking actors are available. Particularly as Hollywood movies are so widely shown in Russia's cinemas these days. I am afraid that many cinema-goers in Moscow will find many scenes non-convincing and poor, and it is of course sad. Bourne Supremacy opens in Russia later this year.