A military action movie. Well, this series is just a legend and a classic of modern Russian cinema, which I watched as a child, because it was often shown on TV. Think about it, then even the First Channel produced not only good series, but even very good and high-quality ones (unlike today, but we won't talk about that). I perfectly remember the characters of the series, all the monologues and dialogues by heart, the songs of the group "Lube", and this review was a great reason to review this series. And here's my brief opinion - The difficult work of the elite of the Russian army. Despite my sincere love for this series, I have to cancel both its advantages and its disadvantages, without which it could not do. But the final score will be inflated, which I warn you about in advance. And here I finish such an important introduction, and get to the point.
So, the advantages:
1. The script - the series consists of seven episodes (three in the first season and four in the second), and each of them makes up a separate story. And the main characters of the series are officers from the group of Major Klim Platov - GRU special forces, who perform various tasks of particular importance and extreme difficulty during the Second Chechen War, both in Russia itself and abroad (mainly in Afghanistan). Each episode is memorable, because both the heroes of the first and second plans are written in it, and the tasks themselves are based on real operations of the GRU special forces and not only. Our heroes are waiting for the fight against subversive groups of Chechen militants, the hunt for high-ranking field commanders, the search and neutralization of enemy "moles", the fight against international terrorists, the release of hostages and so on. At the same time, our heroes are shown as living people who can get injured and even die at a combat post. What a pity that only seven of the twenty-four planned episodes were filmed, so the story of our heroes abruptly ended. Pity!
2. Shootouts, fights, chases - since this is an action movie, there will be shootouts, a lot of shootouts, and they are all set at the highest level, no more and no less, and they look extremely realistic, because the enemy is destroyed not by conscripts of the same age, but by special forces - real masters of their craft, who are the elite of the Russian army not just like that, but because they are able and act much faster and more accurately than the rest of the army. And the music written by Igor Matvienko and Alexander Grigoriev fit perfectly into this case. As a child, these scenes took my breath away, and even now they look great, although the series has already turned twenty years old.
3. Charismatic characters - both from our side and from the other side. And the cast is perfectly matched, for example, Gosha Kutsenko in the role of Sharaf Rashdi or Nodar Mgalobshvilli in the role of the Bearded One. Yes, you can list them all for a long time, because both representatives of the old Soviet school and the new Russian school played here, which still tried to adopt the experience of older comrades (unlike today, but we won't talk about that here). There are no passing characters here (with the exception of a certain number of extras, but we will not count this).
4. Humor - there is a complete order with this. I still remember these moments performed by Yakut, Doc, Klim and so on. Russian Russian, you know, I am familiar with the military, both Soviet and Russian, so I understand military humor, and the local humor is probably the best thing that Russian cinema has given out in general for thirty years of its existence. Perhaps these are big words, but I have never seen anything more similar in level and quality. If there are explanations, then I ask in the comments.
5. Costumes and scenery - The South of Russia was successfully disguised with filters for Chechnya and Afghanistan, so the viewer does not have a feeling of deception, and the terrain of Afghanistan was specially selected as similar as possible, and it is very different from Chechnya. This immersion is also strongly influenced by the quality of the film (it is far from high quality (maximum 480 pixels)). After all, if the picture is restored now, then the dive may suffer (but the shootings will look much better). The uniform of the Russian army and the uniforms of Chechen militants and Afghan Taliban look like real ones. Everything was done right here. Well done!
So, the disadvantages:
1. Some scenario ties - they look extremely unconvincing, for example, in the series with fake dollars, or the story with Sharaf Rashdi. Given the real second Chechen war and the role of the United States in this, strange conclusions suggest themselves. In general, the creators decided "not to offend anyone", that's why they came up with such visits. Although even so, the creators succeeded in the script.
2. Soviet equipment is everywhere - wherever you look, but the Afghan Taliban and Chechen militants all use Soviet trucks and UAZs, although Americans are already sitting in Afghanistan at this time and are actively fighting with the Taliban, and therefore the Taliban must have American equipment.
There are still some problems with logic, but it's not critical.
The series is clearly budget-friendly, and it can be seen even on the screen, but even so the creators managed to make a real masterpiece of military fighters in modern Russian cinema, for which they can only be thanked.
A little about the main characters:
1. Major Klimenty (Klim) Platov, performed by Alexander Baluyev, is the commander of our group, the most experienced and skillful fighter. Extremely cunning and agile, against whom it is better not to act, otherwise such a trick can end extremely sadly. Alexander Baluyev was on top here. This is how professionals behave. Bravo!
2. Captain Vladimir (Doc) Vyazemsky, performed by Alexey Kravchenko, is Klim's deputy in the group and an equally charismatic special forces soldier. No worse than Klim understands the situation and is able to pull off any trick even being at a dead end. Alexey was extremely convincing. Bravo!
3. Senior Lieutenant Yakov (Yakut) Usmanov, performed by Vladislav Galkin, is a sniper and a bomber of the group. The main one for humor and surprises for the enemy. Vladislav did not disappear here among other charismatic personalities. Bravo!
You worry about our heroes as if they were your family, and you wish them victory with all your heart. Well, the patriotic orientation of the series should not be missed. This is not the current "hurrah for patriotism and "we can repeat"," this is genuine patriotism and the display of real heroes - officers and soldiers of the Russian army who, even in the most difficult conditions, perform their tasks, while showing the best human qualities.
I love this series, I have loved these characters since childhood, and even now the series looks, especially against the background of almost universal serial slag. And, as promised, the assessment will be extremely subjective and overestimated, even despite the shortcomings.
My rating is 10 out of 10 and my recommendation for viewing!
