IMDb RATING
3.1/10
1.8K
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A portrait of a formidable political figure, unraveling the contrasting facets of an iron-fisted tyrant and a man haunted by fear.A portrait of a formidable political figure, unraveling the contrasting facets of an iron-fisted tyrant and a man haunted by fear.A portrait of a formidable political figure, unraveling the contrasting facets of an iron-fisted tyrant and a man haunted by fear.
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The script is hopeless, filled with shallow dialogue and devoid of any coherent plot or meaningful character development. It feels like a patchwork of lazy tropes, thrown together without any thought or effort to create something engaging or impactful. The acting is equally lackluster, with performances that range from wooden and uninspired to outright cringeworthy. It's clear that even the actors weren't convinced by the material they were working with.
However, the most glaring flaw-and the one that truly sinks this movie-is the disastrous use of AI. The AI-rendered face of Putin is embarrassingly bad. It's poorly integrated into the film, with lighting and textures that don't match the surrounding environment. The result is something that looks less like advanced technology and more like an amateur's botched Photoshop attempt. Every time the AI face appears on screen, it pulls you out of the story (what little there is of it) and makes you painfully aware of the film's technical shortcomings.
The overall experience is a complete waste of time. Every minute felt like a chore, as though the movie was actively trying to frustrate and disappoint. It's particularly disheartening because the premise had potential. With better writing, acting, and production values, it could have been something akin to The Death of Stalin-a sharp, satirical, and darkly humorous exploration of politics and power. Instead, we're left with a pale, clumsy imitation that fails on every front.
A shame, really. What could have been an incisive political comedy is instead an example of everything wrong with rushed, low-effort filmmaking.
However, the most glaring flaw-and the one that truly sinks this movie-is the disastrous use of AI. The AI-rendered face of Putin is embarrassingly bad. It's poorly integrated into the film, with lighting and textures that don't match the surrounding environment. The result is something that looks less like advanced technology and more like an amateur's botched Photoshop attempt. Every time the AI face appears on screen, it pulls you out of the story (what little there is of it) and makes you painfully aware of the film's technical shortcomings.
The overall experience is a complete waste of time. Every minute felt like a chore, as though the movie was actively trying to frustrate and disappoint. It's particularly disheartening because the premise had potential. With better writing, acting, and production values, it could have been something akin to The Death of Stalin-a sharp, satirical, and darkly humorous exploration of politics and power. Instead, we're left with a pale, clumsy imitation that fails on every front.
A shame, really. What could have been an incisive political comedy is instead an example of everything wrong with rushed, low-effort filmmaking.
Putin is a brilliantly bad "movie." Seriously, it takes a lot of talent to pull this off. I truly believe that the creators did a gargantuan job to make absolutely everything in this movie dumb, laughable and disconcerting. Like Scary Movie, but with the bonus of parasitizing on the tragedy of the Ukrainian people. As a cherry on top, the hard drive with the final cut was pissed on to give the film that artsy yellow filter. I won't dignify this incoherent garbage with analyzing any more of its features, because I've wasted enough time on it already.
In a distant future, we may live to see not only a handful of serious biopics about Putin, but also a new Armando Ianucci who will bring us the work similar to The Death of Stalin. But not now. Now, we only have Patryk Vega, the most hated filmmaker of Poland, and his abomination that will, God willing, shortly descend into obscurity. Make no mistake, it's not "so bad it's good" or a guilty pleasure, it's just guilty.
In a distant future, we may live to see not only a handful of serious biopics about Putin, but also a new Armando Ianucci who will bring us the work similar to The Death of Stalin. But not now. Now, we only have Patryk Vega, the most hated filmmaker of Poland, and his abomination that will, God willing, shortly descend into obscurity. Make no mistake, it's not "so bad it's good" or a guilty pleasure, it's just guilty.
I just watched the new movie Putin, and I have to say, I'm very disappointed. With a production of this scale, you'd expect them to use AI or visual effects properly, especially when portraying such a well-known figure. Instead, the actor barely resembles Putin - the facial animations are stiff, the mouth movements don't sync well, and his gaze feels lifeless. Honestly, modern video game characters look more believable. The film feels more like an experimental art piece than a proper movie. It seems the director's only goal was to portray Putin negatively, but even that was done with a weak, poorly constructed storyline and low-quality visuals.
The clever non-linear timeline of fresh, original political biopic "Putin" flashes back in bite-sized chunks over key chapters in the life of the titular Russian President (professional lookalike Slawomir Sabala) - including his childhood, the Soviet Union's collapse when he was a KGB operative in Germany, his ruthless (and murderous) political rise to the office of President Yeltsin (Tomasz Dedek) that he then took, and his tightening grip on Russia via false-flag terrorist attacks on his own people, etc... culminating in the war on Ukraine. Polish writer / director Patryk Vega uses plenty of artistic license to highlight Putin's evil - but it works. An engaging & enlightening film.
First off, after watching this flick and wanting the time back to do something productive with it, I decided to check out reviews knowing how polarized they and the up/down votes would be. I wasn't disappointed. Some single-review users are even begging the FBI (the American Stasi) to investigate and charge anyone who leaves the movie a bad review, as if all of us are in the US and subject to its laws (I guess Julian Assange would have something to say there).
The film is just a terrible biopic with all the usual western narrative infused background information on V V Putin's life, his career in the Soviet version of the FBI (no, not quite their CIA as it was also concerned with domestic spying) and his rise to power after the demise of the Soviet Union.
There is zero nuance, as it's a full-scale and unprovoked invasion of the viewer's psyche designed to further propagandize the masses and paint foreign "dictators" as the real threat to our so-called freedom and democracy in the collective west. The way the character (and all of them, really) is portrayed is just completely one-sided and worse still, unbelievable. The production is also amateur all around. I normally find something to compliment a moviemaker about, but here we have shoddy camera work, terrible framing and lighting, the sound is awful, the soundtrack could come straight from a Red Scare era propaganda film, and the acting is out of this world bad.
Think about that for a second - this movie has ZERO redeeming qualities. If they had made a well shot, professionally produced and - most importantly competently written and acted - movie, I could have appreciated it on its technical and artistic merits. But alas there is absolutely nothing positive to say about this, and what's worse is it will obviously fail to gain interest or engage viewers for the producers' intended effect - villainizing an already comically hyper-villainized Russian autocrat in whose real-life orbit even more villainous people exist. Honestly, I could have probably achieved at least a 4 star film with just the script, but these guys failed miserably and they have clearly employed the services of a troll army to downvote every honest negative review.
Avoid this. Read Putin's Wikipedia page instead.
The film is just a terrible biopic with all the usual western narrative infused background information on V V Putin's life, his career in the Soviet version of the FBI (no, not quite their CIA as it was also concerned with domestic spying) and his rise to power after the demise of the Soviet Union.
There is zero nuance, as it's a full-scale and unprovoked invasion of the viewer's psyche designed to further propagandize the masses and paint foreign "dictators" as the real threat to our so-called freedom and democracy in the collective west. The way the character (and all of them, really) is portrayed is just completely one-sided and worse still, unbelievable. The production is also amateur all around. I normally find something to compliment a moviemaker about, but here we have shoddy camera work, terrible framing and lighting, the sound is awful, the soundtrack could come straight from a Red Scare era propaganda film, and the acting is out of this world bad.
Think about that for a second - this movie has ZERO redeeming qualities. If they had made a well shot, professionally produced and - most importantly competently written and acted - movie, I could have appreciated it on its technical and artistic merits. But alas there is absolutely nothing positive to say about this, and what's worse is it will obviously fail to gain interest or engage viewers for the producers' intended effect - villainizing an already comically hyper-villainized Russian autocrat in whose real-life orbit even more villainous people exist. Honestly, I could have probably achieved at least a 4 star film with just the script, but these guys failed miserably and they have clearly employed the services of a troll army to downvote every honest negative review.
Avoid this. Read Putin's Wikipedia page instead.
Did you know
- TriviaSlawomir Sobala who is playing Putin is known in Poland as a "Putin-look-a-like" and performed him since 2012 in various TV shows and stage productions, e.g. in "La Trashiata" by Alison Jackson. In a video message he presented his support for Ukraine.
- GoofsWhen introducing Putin to his new Position in the Kremlin in 1996, which would be the position of the Substitute leader of the property Management of the Kremlin, Jeltsin's assistant said that the Russian Federation wants to assassinate the Chechen president Dzokhar Dudayev in order to win in Chechnya. However Ddayev was assassinated on the 21st April 1996, while Putin joined his Kremlin Position in August 1996.
- Crazy creditsThe movie begins with the quotes "The mind is its own place and, in itself can make a heaven of hell or a hell of heaven" by John Milton and the anonymous Quote "However high a man ascends in his pursuit of power, the shadows of his past remain. They are the whispers of a conscience Shaping his Destiny."
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $15,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $21,624
- Gross worldwide
- $406,786
- Runtime1 hour 49 minutes
- Color
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