dbborroughs (SPOILERS AHEAD) Russian fantasy "actioner" (and I use the term loosely) that I've been trying to watch for over a year. I've finally gotten to the end and now I wish I didn't put in the repeated effort.In an effort to save two hours of your life I'm going to tell you he plot- a guy who has the ability to project a long blade out of his arm returns home to see his mom. Things turn ugly after he is beaten up by the mafia boyfriend of an old girl friend. He takes revenge on the guy when he brings the girl home. The guys mafia mom sends her men out to get revenge while the cops begin looking for him as well.Very little is said. no explanation is really given for anything (like why they lock id girlfriend in an asylum) and the action, for the most part is all off screen. The film essentially consists of a guy who looks like Adrian Brody looking intense and not saying anything, killing people (off screen-most of the action happens off screen). It looks good, is well acted and had there been some form of reason for what is going on it might have been a good film. Hell, I would have liked some sense of real character development or back story (all we know is that the guy was picked on as a kid). The movie runs the better part of two hours and it feels like its six. If they weren't going to tell us anything they could have at least picked up the pace so it seemed like it was moving too fast. No instead we get the hero on a boat. The hero in a bus, the hero walking, the hero looking disturbed.Hero with his girl. It really annoyed me since I think this could have been a good film if they had simply done something or had someone actually say something meaningful other than give instructions to "get this guy".4 out of 10. Its about four hours (all my attempts to see this) I'll never get back. Only for those who want to see a brooding Russian action film with very little action

Don_Bruno It was a very interesting movie for me, and I am definitely one of those who likes it, but i can easily see why some people don't like it, there isn't a whole lot of dialog in the movie and the main character rarely speaks and when he does it's usually very short spoken, however the movie speaks volumes visually as with allot of the new Russian films coming out cinematography and how the shots were set up where quite impressive...the storyline is not your typical one: Action / Romance / Sci-Fi / Thriller. and it very well can be all of that but essentially it is a story about a man who kills those who stand in his way, he is cursed with a kind of wolverine-esquire problem a retractable sword under his skin, I know it sounds silly but once you get with it becomes a irrelevant in the process of the story, it essentially is a story about the bloke who has the power and has used it to hurt allot of people, you understand why he doesn't say much and why he is much of a loner, and how hard it is for him to make intimate connections and he becomes a mysterious and an interesting person...the movie was far from perfect, but at the same time by some odd reason kind of wicked and cool...for those of you that like to experience different types of movies and don't mind them being different this one might be worth a check out...

DaveOctopus I watched it subtitled as it was in Russian, but really enjoyed it. The main character Sasha was born cursed, with a deadly weapon as an extension of his body. He lived his whole life unhappy because he was different and because anger caused him to do deadly things. When Sasha finally found love in a young woman named Katya everyone tried to take her away from him ending in a deadly battle. There was a fair amount of gore, but not too much for the weak stomached.Not for people who like the regular old Hollywood movie, but for those who enjoy independent films. Kinda got the feeling of an Asian fantasy film.

aleph1 Nothing positive to say. Meandering nonsense, huffing and puffing with a "message". New Russian (post-Soviet) films can be very good (Cuckoo comes to mind), yet many have the bouquet of cardboard and the aftertaste of asbestos (Nochnoi Dozor would be a good example). This is a "dozor" type of emptiness. Acting would be horrible if not for the saving grace of utterly unappealing direction and incompetent editing that sometimes is so awful that it distracts from the impotence of the actors. Special award to the cameraman for making sure that every shot is shaky (would someone please realize that Blair Witch has had its 15 seconds of undeserved fame?) and takes are geared towards attention-deficit pre-teens who subside on CounterStrike and masturbation. The female lead poses and tries to look seductive too often, male antihero need a diction coach (although genetics aren't bad: rather expressive eyes.) One (middle) finger for this irrelevant pile of non-art. Anyone who reviews this positively better be a (distant) cousin of the "auteurs".