Istrebiteli. Posledniy boy

Following on from the events of the first Attackers series, Major Bestuzhev is promoted to Lt Colonel and given command of a newly-formed fighter regiment. He is given the latest Soviet fighter, the Yak-3, but with no veterans to draw upon he has to rely on green pilots straight out of training. It's a tough assignment, made tougher by adversaries at Army headquarters, cunning German opponents and personal tragedy.

I really enjoyed the first Attackers series. A gritty, realistic portrayal of the air war on the Eastern Front complete with some interesting themes and sub-plots, good character depth and coverage of the war from many angles.

However, the first episode of this, the second series, is a bitter disappointment after that. Plot is all over the place, acting is hammy, melodrama is laid on very thick. Even the special effects are worse, despite this series being made two years later. It was so bad I thought of giving up then and there.

It's a good thing I didn't. The series gradually gets better as it goes along, to the point that after 6 episodes or so it's almost as good as the first series. Some intriguing plots, again, good character depth and some interesting relationship-based sub-plots. Plot can be a bit holey at times: certainly not as tight as the first series.

Quite uneven too: it veers from some really silly, implausible scenes to some wonderfully deep and profound moments. It's as if there were two teams of writers at work, a good one and a bad one, and they took turns on the scenes. (The bad team wrote the entire first episode!).

Overall, engaging and entertaining.

This series is a continuation of "Attackers", offering more of the same "fluff"... but oh what WONDERFUL fluff it is: an emotional roller-coaster ride! Overlook the visual effects and some of the bad acting, and simply sit down and enjoy a magnificent time, as entertainment is virtually guaranteed.

This is a thoroughly enjoyable few hours of escapism, well worthy of its place on Amazon Prime and engrossing. The characters are well rounded, and I do include the ousted aristocrat Lt Colonel Bes, acted by Dmitriy Dyuzhev, a strong lead as a restrained gentleman tough-guy. The lead cast is very well acted overall. It is an absolute delight to see the engaging performance of the superb Latvian stage and screen actress Svetlana Stolyarova in so many episodes as the lovely woman fighter pilot, Rita. Darya Belousova also acts finely in lead support as military nurse, baby's nanny, goat keeper and love interest. Anastasiya Vedenskaya is great as the lead flier, indomitable, mischievous and playing hard to get. The phenomenal bravery, especially of the young Russian women combatants, deserves this dramatization and wide exposure. The plot twists and cliff-hangers are a binge-watch magnet. Occasionally you need to do a single rewind click to re-read a subtitle, but that was not a significant flaw, and far preferable to dubbing in my view. I agree with the reviewer hopmah that this is even better than the first series. It does the whole production team and cast strong international credit.

First I was sad to see it end after only one season. So much more could have been done with it. The drippy love triangle was irritating and no real exploration as to how it even happened, plus the deaths of key people was predictable. During the last episode, it all felt rushed, with some plot holes and an overall feeling that they just wanted to get it over with. Was good, could have been great with more time..

Very few westerners realise just how much the Soviets gave in WW2. It's not all Battle of Britain, El Alemain and D-Day. They fought not just their system but the Germans. Either one would kill them.

This series gives a glimpse of what their pilots did, with personal stories interwoven and some suspect subtitles it's an engaging series which captures the spirit. Star Media have the ability to do a lot more of these and the actors should receive more exposure in the West. Russia could start being a strong cultural force rather than just this cold leftover from the Cold War era.