Pânico no Metrô

Metro. It's a Russian disaster movie based on the simple plot of how one day a metro train gets hit by the unexpected flood in a tunnel and how few key characters make themselves to see the sun light again despite all odds against them. What drives this metro are two key factors; technical finesse in showing the flood hitting the metro and few characters worth rooting for. The scene where water strikes the passengers in the compartments is a technical marvel. A small fresh love story, a broken marriage and a love triangle, all key connections and conflicts between the key characters are done nicely. Camera work and art direction in showing the haunting images of the disaster is astounding. However, acting wise there was ample possibility of improvement. I am going with good 7 out of 10 for Metro. It never reaches to the height of perfection but by doing few things up right, it makes you feel the experience of a disaster.

Accustomed to the fact that in modern Russian cinematograph there are very, very few good films, I did not expect much from this either. The 6.5 rating only reinforced this concern. As a result, I was very surprised that I was very wrong. This is a very good movie. Not without it's small roughness and a few clichés, but definitely deserves rating above average. Generally maybe 8. But for me, as I was pleased that I caught a good Russian film - totally 9. P.S.: Never ignore dangerous signs.

It's like the Russian version of a typical Hollywood disaster movie. ("Daylight" is very similar to this one.) So the characters are clichéd, the escape at the end is quite unrealistic, there are no conflict between the characters, everybody just wants to survive. The acting is almost amateur.

On the contrary, the directing, the cinematography and the visual effects are amazing, they're even better than in many Hollywood movies. The main catastrophe and the immediate consequences are shown in a quite impressive way, almost better than in any other disaster movie before.

Because of this, I can recommend this one for watching, but don't expect anything better than a clichéd story.

What a beast of a movie. Only weak part of the movie was the periodic nonsensical stopping an escape for your life to chit chat, allowing things, bad things to catch up with you. I know it's just a movie though. However the stopping and going was maddening. Like you KNOW things are going to get worse before they get better. Put on your big boy pants and run like hell. Dont trudge. Aside from this, it was an awesome movie. The disaster scene was a human cacophony of chaos I haven't seen filmed like that since the matrix 20 years ago.

In Metro, a breach in the old subway system of Moscow lets water pour in, trapping an entire rush hour subway train underground. The crash scenes are spectacular and the rest of the film follows a small group of survivors trying to get to the surface.

This is what Stallone's Daylight should have been. There is no heroic saviour that solves everyone's problems, but everybody for themselves. The tension, the interaction between the characters, the very beautiful Svetlana Khodchenkova and Katerina Shpitsa and a kind of over the top coincidence involving a love triangle, they all bring quality to the film.

At more than two hours long, I can say that I did not feel the desire to fast forward even once, which is very rare. The Russian references have that sad/funny feel about them. You could laugh at them if you didn't have to go through them yourself, and then it's kind of sad, but you appreciate the recognition.

Bottom line: get yourself a decent translation (unfortunately I did not have one) and watch Metro. Its flaws are minimal, mainly related to acting, and you can easily enjoy the film from start to end.