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Palmyra/Once In The Desert is a interesting, enjoyable movie about the Russian intervention in Syria or more specifically about the life of Captain Shaberov a D'Miner/Sapper. He is an experienced D'Miner who is training a group of Syrian soldiers in D'Mining. The storyline is really good, it has a pretty major plot twist later on that the viewer won't see coming, and that will have you saying "Why? Just why?", like seriously when it was revealed I was so sad and heartbroken. Still a solid, enjoyable storyline following the adventures of Captain Shaberov in Syria.

The movie even has a really nice romantic arc to it, I would have thought trying to include a romance and romantic storyline would take away from the rest of the movie and the seriousness of the job and dangers a sapper must face, but the romance angle was worked in really well in such a way that while you may be a bit surprised at first like I was you'll really like it as well looking back at it.

The cast all seemed to fit their roles really well and put on enjoyable performances. Aleksandr Robak who plays Captain Shaberov is does a good job portraying a veteran sapper, father trying to reconnect to his daughter and a man who finds love in the middle of the Syrian war. Pavel Chinaryov is an annoying rookie captain, but by the end he isn't to bad and the actor does a good job.

Ekaterina Nesterova plays Jamilya, A Syrian woman and Captain Shaberov's love interest. The actress is Russian(I'm assuming by her name) yet she plays a Syrian woman and does a really good job of it as well, albeit one who says her father is Russian and her mother Syrian therefore she is mixed. She also looks really middle eastern/Syrian to me in the movie and I wouldn't have guessed that she was a Russian actress at all. So really good job overall with her casting and the performance she delivered.

The fighting scenes, explosions, blood and guts and all that, looks and feels very real, so props to the director and team there as well. Great VFX and SFX.

Anyway overall Palmyra is a enjoyable war movie that does a great job of depicting the life of a Russian Sapper in Syria. It has a good storyline, a lovely romantic angle, great fight scenes, explosions and the like. A well deserved 8/10 from me.

P. S. I watched a English dubbed version of the movie unfortunately. The Russian parts were dubbed into English but the Arabic parts are all still in Arabic thankfully. Would definitely have preferred watching the film in it's original language though.

Usually, I would rate something like this as 8, but with all hate to this movie, due to its origin, it deserves 10.... just to get to the overall real value of it.

It's really worth watching it. It got the atmosphere... of war and how ugly it is. It got real people, whom you do believe and worry about. And it's more or less how things do work in this kind of world.

Some things are predictable, some are not. The main character never dies in the movie length, but we do have a variety of secondary characters, and their survival will always keep you on the edge.

Overall - it's a good movie, about good people, who know what to do in their... job... a bit silly in other things in their life.... just like all of us.

This is for me yet another brilliant Russian film with Hollywood blockbuster quality. The shot sequence for the first landmine explosion a few minutes into the movie showed me all I needed to know how brilliantly made the rest of the movie will be. If you have enjoyed other Russian movie industry cuts such as The Balkan Line, Sputnik and Russkiy Reyd then this one will definitely be worth watching for you. For any enthusiast of military movies with a touch of the Eastern influence I highly recommend this! Once In The Desert is every bit a 10/10 production if you watch it sincerely without any pre-programmed bias.

Historical drama. Well, since we have seen the much-praised picture "Sky", then why not continue the theme of a military movie about the Russian military operation in the Syrian Arab Republic, because the occasion is suitable. And the personality of the director is interesting, because today's picture was shot by none other than Andrei Kravchuk himself, who will never wash off the shameful "Viking", but with today's picture he smoothed out the sharp corners of his filmography a little and proved that all is not lost yet, and the "Cinema Fund" for once singled out money (from our taxes) for a good movie, not another garbage. I looked at the picture with some pleasure, and here is my brief opinion - The life and service of a Russian sapper. There were both deserved advantages and unpleasant disadvantages in the picture, which should not be forgotten. And here I finish with the introductory part and get to the point.

So, the pros: 1. Scenario - if we do not take the idiotic moments and outright stupidity in the first half of the picture (which is only needed to reveal the heroic side of Captain Shaberov), then we have a good and even good dramatic story of the life and service of an experienced sapper who serves in Syria and teaches the local military his dangerous craft, while he meets his love. Captain Shaberov is a very difficult and extremely lonely man, who feels good among explosions and constant danger, he is not in a hurry to return to his homeland. In general, his service and life are shown, along the way the viewer finds himself involved in a Civil war, terrorist acts, the struggle for the preservation of historical Palmyra, the internal cuisine of the Russian and Syrian military, difficulties and difficult relationships with the "moderate opposition" and other participants in the conflict. The finale, for me personally, turned out to be even a little unexpected, because I was imbued with the main character (well played by Alexander Robak). This is not the pinnacle of screenwriting, but a strong and dramatic story that catches. And the inscription in the final is very correct "Dedicated to Russian sappers".

2. Romantic line - it is straight as a ruler, but you believe in it, despite its trifling circumstances. Yes, and the ending is very out of line with her, which is what she remembers. There is that "spark" between the characters, without which romance is not romance.

3. Combat episodes - filmed and rated "excellent". Explosions look like real explosions, blood and severed limbs are eerily similar to real ones, blood looks like blood and there is enough of it in general. Even tactics are present in most of these moments. It can be seen that the creators were advised by experienced people who served in Syria at that time. And fights happen here often, which makes me very happy, because I grew up on the action movies of the nineties. I didn't notice the graphics. There is empathy for the Russian and Syrian military, and for civilians, of course, because every loss causes a response in the soul.

4. Music is far from a masterpiece, but within the framework of a military picture it is a good option. Her motives were clearly spied on by her overseas colleagues, but it turned out all the same well.

So, the cons: 1. Sound - the first number is a bad sound editing (which I know firsthand), because Alexander Robak speaks very softly and a third of the words are simply indecipherable, which is quite infuriating, because he is a sapper and tells the specifics of his craft. In addition, some other characters also speak very quietly. Your sound engineer is personally reprimanded and the editor Alexander Koshelev is also personally reprimanded, well, and the director Kravchuk for not controlling this.

2. Shaberov's behavior - he always runs into trouble, behaves like a lone wolf who does not care about orders, but because of this disregard, his colleagues, or Syrian allies, or even civilians may die. Thank God that he is so stupid only in the first half of the picture, and then, having already "fired up", he acts wisely and prudently.

3. Idiotic moments - this concerns both the elementary oblivion of the rules of tactics and banal logic. All this is present to a greater extent only in the first half of the picture, but it is still very annoying.

A little about the main characters: 1. Captain Dmitry Shaberov, played by Alexander Robak, is an experienced sapper who managed to survive more than one mistake, but who is not very lucky, because death wanders next to him. Very strained relations with the family, which causes sympathy. A sincere and honest officer, a kind of "Ivan the fool", who is always happy and for whom you will fight to the last drop of blood, and he will do the same for a friend. Alexander Robak was very convincing in this role and finally he starred in a good movie, and not in another domestic slop. Well done Alexander!

2. Captain Kostya Zhilin, played by Pavel Chinarev, is a newly arrived sapper, to whom Dmitry falls into subordination. Chyna tries to restrain herself here (but it doesn't really work out). I noticed him back in Devyataev, where his "hero" was very, very annoying. Rank! Will you learn to control your facial expressions? And control emotions? You're an actor, not a student of the mime school. What they teach you there. In general, not very convincing, although the efforts are visible.

This picture in the Russian box office collected pennies, and when it began, it was quickly turned down (which is surprising, because the picture is military-patriotic). And as a result, it failed miserably at the box office, which is sad, because it is not the best example of modern military-patriotic cinema (but better than "Sky"), but not bad either. Look at this picture, just look, rate it, write a review, it deserves it, unlike any Batman or Mobius.

As a result, we have a good historical drama about Russian sappers in Syria, with a good script, good music, excellent combat episodes, and even with the acting present.

My rating is 8 out of 10 and my recommendation for viewing!

English dubbed russian movies, seems like the producers think we are all analphabets that cant read cc's, stupid that is...

but if you like horendous explotions, insane shootouts and tactics on the battle filed combined with the love of russian military machine stuff then this film will fit like a glove. The rest is just palmyrian camels of a lovestory that tries to creep through the needlehead opening or trying to get laid the alibaban way, its dry and coarse as a petrified forest in the desert, so go for the explosives, theyre the best.

Russians usually do make good war movies, but this syrian conflict commemoration was far from what i expected. It lasts 30 minutes too long thinks the grumpy old man, but a small recommend still.