Adventure. The film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Soviet writer and journalist Leonid Platov. And since the author of this review has not read the original book source (but has learned about the main points), he will evaluate the film adaptation as an independent work. It was a long way to get to this picture, and watching it left me with slightly contradictory feelings. And here's a brief opinion - A boring Soviet adventure film. There are both advantages and disadvantages in the picture, so you should complete this brief introduction and proceed to the analysis.
So, the advantages:
1. The scenario - the picture tells the story of senior lieutenant (future captain) Boris Ivanovich Shubin, commander of a torpedo boat, who, serving in the Baltic Fleet during World War II, was able to discover an enemy secret channel and traces of a mysterious German submarine called the Flying Dutchman, which was officially listed as dead, during a special operation in 1944. In 1942, but who is alive and performs special tasks for the top leadership of the Third Reich. She is being hunted by fleet intelligence and Shubin himself, who, after some events, intends to sink her, since this has become a personal matter. Along the way, the personal life of the hero is being solved, and the crew of the Flying Dutchman, who performs their tasks, will also be shown to us. There is a certain morality in the picture, showing the exploits of Soviet soldiers, sailors, commanders, and so on. If it weren't for the tediousness of the narration and such a finale, then one could praise the script. Hopefully, the situation is better in the book.
2. Acting - Anatoly Korenev as Shubin, Larisa Guzeeva as Victoria Mezentseva, Vladimir Naumtsev as Selivanov, and so on. They all performed their roles perfectly. There is no pathos, everything is close to life. At the same time, there is no feeling that Shubin is our direct "superhero", and this is good, because this way he is much closer to the viewer. Although the "replacement of heroes" in the film adaptation differs from the book version, it was done well, so I don't want to scold this moment.
3. Atmosphere - the atmosphere of the sea, the Great Patriotic War, a kind of confrontation is present. Unfortunately, there is no merit of the composer here, rather the environment, scenery and costumes worked here. Although monstrous anachronisms in some places hit this very atmosphere hard.
So, the disadvantages:
1. Tiresomeness - the picture is very unhurried, right at all. She often makes long-term plans and tries to pretend that it will be interesting for the audience. Well, it won't be! There's nothing to stretch here. There are no combat operations, no effects either. We will not see war as such. Everything is chamber-like, despite the fact that they try to diversify the frame with nature and the Baltic Sea coast. Why was it necessary to stretch it out for a little over four hours? And it was written by a man who loves slow storytelling very much. But this picture is clearly not one of them.
2. The lack of a finale as such - and besides the morality that you need to be always on the lookout for something? What about the Flying Dutchman? What about his captain and crew? What happened to Shubin and his colleagues? Don't even wait for the credits. Maybe it's in the book? I'm sorry, but the author of this review has not read it, and is not obligated to do so, the creators should have shown it to us from the cinema. But we were shown a banality and that's it. It looks like a hack. In this regard, "Commander of the Happy Pike" is much better (and it doesn't bother the viewer in time). Moreover, the film is lousy, the black color covers everything, even the restoration did not help to fix it.
Is it worth watching this picture now? Well, you can, of course, but you won't learn anything new from it, it's better to read the book, I hope it's more interesting there.
Rating 7 out of 10!
