Archangel
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Movie Reviews of Archangel
Movie Review: Revisiting the Stalinist Era and its Impact
Summary: 4 Stars
ARCHANGEL (the name of a northern Russian town that hides secrets the story discloses) is a film that is not without flaws both in script and in production, but it is a movie of intrigue that makes for a good night's adventure of escape...and political philosophizing.
Dr. Fluke Kelso (Daniel Craig) is an American professor of history visiting Moscow to speak out against the persistent (though small) consistency who revere the dead Stalin and long for the Communist days of yore. He is immediately under suspicion, meets and old man Old Papu (Valery Chernyak) who tells Kelso he has information that will change his attitude. And the intrigue begins. Old Papu is the last of the old group of bodyguards of Stalin and was present at Stalin's death, witnessing the transfer of some important information to Beria (Yervant Arzumanyan) that was to be hidden forever. The Moscow police begin to trail Kelso, kill Old Papu, Kelso discovers Old Papu has a daughter Zinaida (Yekaterina Rednikova) who despite studying for law is making her living as a high-class hooker, and in time Kelso engages Zinaida on a chase to find the hidden documents her father has sequestered. Along the line the obligatory television press correspondent, American O'Brian (Gabriel Macht) fast talks his way into participating in the chase and the strange group of men adamant to find the lost documents - a group led by Mamantov (Lev Prygunov) - attack and pursue the triad all the way to Archangel where the truths about Stalin's last days are made known: in flashbacks we see that Stalin (Avtandil Makharadze) had a lover Anna (Anna Gerasimova) who was impregnated by the dying Stalin and gave birth to a son Josef (Konstantin Lavroneko) who is just waiting for the right time to make Stalinist Communism rise again. How all this intrigue resolves is the fairly impressive ending to the story.
This may sound like a flimsy thread for a story but here it works, primarily due to the conviction of Daniel Craig as Kelso, Gabriel Macht as O'Brian and a cast of Russian actors who are very fine. There is a problem: no subtitles are give, except in Spanish, and though the majority of the dialogue is in English (the Russian dialogue is translated) the Russian accents are so thick that the actors' English can barely be understood. The cinematography captures Latvia and Russia effectively and the musical score by Robert Lane is additive. Not a great movie but a tight and entertaining one and one with enough recounting pf the history of Stalinist USSR to make us remember important facts! Grady Harp, November 06
Movie Review: Until the Final Gun Explodes
Summary: 4 Stars
Jon Jones' second feature (after an obscure "When I'm 64") is a tense thriller. Jones does a good job with pacing and benefits from excellent cinematography. The screenplay is by the writing team Ian LaFrenais and Dick Clement who recently wrote Across the Universe (Two-Disc Special Edition) and have "Bank Job" with Jason Statham due for release. La Frenais won the British Academy Award for writing for "The Commitments" in 1992.
Daniel Craig portrays historian Fluke Kelso who is presented with a secret from Josef Stalin's past. The film unfolds like a lower budgeted Russian version of The Da Vinci Code (Widescreen Two-Disc Special Edition) where a historian scrapes with the police to uncover an important secret. Daniel Craig was nominated for Best Actor by the British Academy Awards in 2006 for his portrayal of James Bond in Casino Royale (2-Disc Widescreen Edition) and has appeared this summer in "The Golden Compass" and in 2005 in Munich (Widescreen Edition). He does a good job as the historian teetering over the hill who could use one great story and another book to bolster his career. His work is impressive with a surprising emotional range in this plot-centered thriller.
Yekaterina Rednikova plays the Russian Zinaida. She does a good job as the hard-edged woman who works by day and is a lady of the evening by night. Gabriel Macht who was in "The Good Shepherd" and A Love Song for Bobby Long plays the tenacious reporter R.J. O'Brien who won't let go of the story. The Russian secret police captain Suvorin played by Alexey Diakov also turns in an excellent and controlled performance.
This film gripped me from the first frame and kept me on the edge of my seat until the final gun explodes. It seems like one needs a rudimentary appreciation of Soviet Russian history to fully appreciate what is being uncovered, not unlike "The DaVinci Code" in that regard. This is an interesting and tight drama well worth an evening's viewing. Enjoy!
Movie Review: Archangel is named after the Archangel Michael the Angel of War
Summary: 4 Stars
The city of Archangel was named by Peter the Great (who ordered its' construction) for the Angel who fights at Gd's right hand against Satan. It was to be Russia's naval base on the Arctic Sea, and was the home of the USSR's nuclear submarine fleet during the Cold War. All this has nothing to do with the movie!
The movie, which is written and filmed by Russians, is a commentary on the loss of power and prestige after the death of Stalin (apres moi le deluge). Except for Krushchev, all the leaders who followed Stalin were forced to live in his shadows. The man who killed over 30 million of his own countrymen is remembered fondly by those who survived because of what he accomplished. He took a totally rural country and turned it into a superpower in less than thirty years, during which he defeated on of the strongest armies that ever existed.
This story follows a group that wants to revive Stalinism in modern Russian by rallying the people behind a 'new' Stalin. Professor Kelso (David Craig as an expert on Russia) is duped into exposing the new dictator as the son of Stalin by an ingenious series of machinizations. But, is he really being duped?
Being filmed in Russia, we get to see the dark side of the country, the drunken brutality and the 'anything for a buck' economy. It's very interesting to see the parts of the cities that were built under communism and how they are deteriorating. Except for the ending (which is very Russian) most of the movie is very entertaining and plausible.
Movie Review: Stalin .... a mad man that the world has never seen before or since
Summary: 4 Stars
Russian history enthusiasts will love this film. This movie made me wonder about the story of the USSR and the rise of Josef Stalin. Unlike other notorious world leaders, Stalin (the focus of this tale) was more ruthless and murderous than any of the other infamous dictators in history combined. A fearsome threat to his own people as well as the world, even the USA, Great Britan, France and the WW-II allies feared taking action against Stalin and instead fought with him against Hitler and Germany. Stalin died in 1953.
If you want to know more about Russia's most ruthless dictator, Josef Stalin, see this movie.
Arch Angel, is a superb mystery/thriller (based on the book) about a university history professor searching for answers to a very young female hired to work for Stalin during his reign. The story takes place in modern day Russia. The search for answers takes this professor and his party of three to a remote Russian city known as "Arch Angel".
The story is a riveting, action packed, nail biter. But the ending left much to be desired--from the DVD I saw there really was no ending. This is the only reason it gets 4 stars instead of 5. Much of the story, but not all, is written in English captions.
See this movie. It sparked my interest in Stalin and I read more about this dictator in Winipekia, which has some superior and unique online information.
Stalin was a horrifying man unlike any other. He made Saddam Hussien look like Santa Claus.
Movie Review: Probably banned in Russia
Summary: 4 Stars
This movie exposes (to those who were unaware) the unhappy fact that Stalin is still very popular in Russia, that mighty empire which has lived by murder and theft for hundreds of years. The Boys from Brazil was not credible. Very few Germans long for the "good old Hitler days." Alas, opinion polls show that a large chunk of Russians do wish for the return of good old Joe. This movie was largely shot in the free Baltic state of Latvia. It shows how bold the Balts are to allow this poke in the eye of the "great Russian nation" to be shot in their country. Even more so since Latvia has a large and agressive group of retired Soviet civil servants who have decided to retire there. If you liked the "Boys from Brazil," give this one a look. No Gregory Peck or Laurence Olivier, but a very good cast indeed.