Review by vavuvavu

Siberia seems like a missed opportunity to introduce the viewers to an emotionally involving, slow-paced, old school movie. The result is instead a dull, painfully slow, cheap mix of a thriller and romantic story without the strength for delivering in any of the two. It's an over 90 mins wait for something which is unclear, and which eventually does not happen anyhow. The diamond story starts well, but half way through becomes flat, losing emotional depth and failing to develop a sincere connection between the audience and the characters. It gets almost predictable. As for the romance, without even trying to avoid an old tired cliché, Katya is just a girl living in a remote Siberian village who falls for the foreign and starts following him around no matter what he does and how much he uses her, and whose dignity and worth as a woman reach a dreary low during a scene. The intimate scenes poorly reflect the bounding, the 'building the moment' and reciprocal trust, both Keanu Reeves and Ana Ularu highly talked about in their interviews. There is no passion between Lucas and Katya, especially from his side, and his love/obsession for her does not come through. "...and this is a problem, I assume" says Katya. Given that the movie is sold as romantic thriller then yes, it is! This is not John Wick and does not want to be that type of movie either, but Keanu Reeves seems to be struggling to become someone different, up to the point that he is overwhelmed by Pasha Lychnikoff when on screen together. Molly Ringwald's talent is completely wasted. Ana Ularu is an experienced actress but her performance, when she's not busy kissing and/or groaning, is arguably enhanced by that emotional rigidness Reeves is (sadly) well-known for.

All in all, the film fails to deliver whatever the director, the writers and Reeves had in mind - Love story? Thriller? Romantic drama? A crafted opportunity for Reeves to test himself against intimacy, passion and emotions?

1 star for the supporting cast