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One of the most awful films I have seen in the last years. All actors' play is unsatisfactory, almost nothing left from the original book which is interesting and very good, so no surprise the author asked to take off his name from the film titles.

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.

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.

Probably 1 star too many, but I have seen recently so many bad films that this one seems quite good. Consider the fact that I am a Pole, so I dislike Russian culture, but the film seems really interesting. Set in the times of Peter the Great, the builder and conquerer. A story is simple, war and love, but played well, heroes believable, actors are professionals, a few beautiful and handsome faces, the set is drawn in simple strokes, you can follow enjoying the view, harsh climate and characters. Costumes are beautiful, the screenplay acceptable, directing flawless, cinematographer knows his job. A solid film deserving a better recognition. Not too much money spent and thank God, instead of following blown cars or cities we can follow a good storyline.

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 ...