Tobol

Do you like period pieces? Especially those with big battle and fight scenes? Well this could be something for you. Don't ask me about historical accuracies or anything like that though. I just enjoyed the movie for its entertainment purposes and it had quite a few of them.

When the fight and battle scenes play out right, what more do you need? Are there better movies with similar themes? Surely - as there are worse movies of course. Overall a very decent effort ...

Siberian families fight to preserve Russia.

Action film has good acting (Agata Mutsenietse as 'Brigitte') and big production values complete with a Topol-type character ('Fiddler on the Roof', 1971) and a Genghis Khan-type warrior. Who will prevail?

English subtitles help make this near 2-hour film watchable.

First, i dont know the book or anything about russian history, but im not an author, nor a historian and im here to rate a movie, not the accuracy of it.

And the movie is absolute ok. The scenery is good, the actors are decent, the dialogues are ok, i think in russian they are actually a bit better due to the difficulties of translating russian into german or english. At least they put a lot of effort in the locations and outfits (nothing looks fake or cheaply put together), im not sure if theyre accurate, but as i told, im not here to rate accuracy, so for me the locations are made good, the costumes look good and everything seems to fit for that day and age. The CGI is good enough for that kind of movie. The action and fighting scenes were good too.

I think this movie really is worth watching. Ive seen far worse russian movies. So this movie gets a solid 8 of 10 for the decent effort they put in it.

Not least for the glimpse it might give into some of Putin's thinking.

I have no idea about the historical accuracy, but the geopolitics is very interesting, showing the juxtaposition of the same sort of eastern mounted warriors who in more ancient times had often swept into Europe, but were now caught between the Chinese and Russian empires.

The predominant theme is one of peoples just wanting to live in peace - one that is extremely relevant today - and just how difficult that can be, with troublemakers at both extremes of the social hierarchy always ready to start a fight.

Despite appearances, the plot line is quite complex - even at the romantic level - and the action scenes are well staged.

It's nice to watch films from sources other than the Hollywood production line, especially when they give you a glimpse into other cultures and ways of life.

Good movie - interesting to watch, nicely shot, based on well written book by famous author. A.Ivanov got the "Book of the year" prise in Russia several years back for another historical book ("Heart of Parma" where he also talked about history of Siberia), therefore anything by Ivanov is expected to be winner.

Although movie only based on the book it is educational to see and highly recommended for these who want to know more. This movie deserves to be shown in wider selection of Canadian theaters but knowing how relations with Russia deteriorated and affected by sanctions, this show is a good surprise and opportunity to widen your knowledge and see something new among dominated fantasy and comic based blockbusters.