War Zone

Of course this movie is a propaganda, but a very good one. That's how propaganda movies should be made! The movie is not about the message that is shouted in your face, but rather about how it makes you feel - at the right time, for the right reason, with the right character. I liked pretty much everything about this movie - the script, the dialogs, character development, action scenes. I've read some concerns about main girl character who's acting did not seem to be convincing early in the movie, but I think it was done on purpose, as a contrast, to show that behind urban glamour still hides Russian Woman that was praised in the world art and literature. Thus dedication of the movie to the mothers. Bottom line is: at last we see some nice action drama coming from Russia that we would not be ashamed of. Highly recommend.

Frankly: current state of Russian cinema seems fairly low, you have to be real "patriot" to find any jokes in todays' Russian comedies or any fun in action movies (IMHO).

The bigger was surprise from "August 8th" - it got my 8/10 just for being able to watch it till closing credits and don't die from boredom. Bravo! I would even suppose that this movie would be suitable for international auditory, at least it's much more entertaining than any direct-to-video Seagal/VanDamme/Lundgren "product".

OK, Russian actors and script-writers still need to strive to reach any level of realism in dialogs which are are too long and non-convincing here and there, scene of "orgasm in elevator" bravely stolen from Harry & Sally (well, actually it's tribute, heroine has it on DVD), but mechanical, F/X and battle parts of the movie are almost perfect.

Frankly, I cannot even recall any recent movie where realism of the field battle was close enough to August 8th. "Battle Los Angeles" is probably being closest. Director is definitely big fan of hardware, almost 50 consecutive seconds of the movie we can see how a bus is being torn in pieces, including demonstration of all it's mechanical "intestines", really rare episode of this kind. For soldiers CRAWLING (not running) in houses, less than heroic (i.e. real world) deaths on both conflicting sides - for all this my big thanks to director and his military consultants.

Last but not least is that you can mark battle scenes as "based on real events" - unfortunately this sign today is often attached to movies with almost no ties to reality. Here, on the contrary, almost all battle episodes of the movie are based on actual events, including "big ambush" on one of convoys, "live shield" by tank without ammo and many others.

Watching those episodes is highly recommended even if you get a copy of this movie without dubbing, consider it "Black Hawk Down" in miniature.

Movie is about the 2008 August War or Russo-Georgian War. The war action sequence were okay but the story sequences towards the end felt very draggy and long winded. Just get to the story already! Jeez.

A parody of "Transformers" and "Black Hawk Down" and some other movies with stupid story and just for propaganda. They know that everybody in world hates Russia. then make them a cheap propaganda. do not waste time and money for that garbage.

Don't be fooled by many movie posters featuring giant robots into believing the film is about giants, or giant robots. It's not. Well, partly, I guess.

Tyoma is a young boy who likes playing video games. He often lives in a fantasy world envisioning giants and robots. The film itself is realistic, though, and not fantasy or about super-heroes. Kseniya is a single mother, but still has contact with Tyoma's father, Zaur. Wanting to take a vacation with her new boyfriend, Yegor, Kseniya agrees when Zaur asks for Tyoma to come live with him for a while in the village of Sidamonta in South Ossetia.

Shortly after Tyoma arrives in Sidamonta, news breaks of a war and Sidamonta becoming a conflict zone, and Kseniya desperately wants Tyoma sent back home. When Zaur refuses, she decides to journey to Sidamonta herself. The bus trip to Tskhinvali was incredible! I don't want to ruin the movie if you haven't seen it, so I won't go into detail, but it was stunning.

The rest of the movie sees Kseniya trying to get to her son, while war comes closer to home. 'August Eighth' is an incredible film with amazing visuals, beautiful cinematography, and jaw-dropping action sequences. It is fast-paced and thrilling and there literally never is a dull moment. Svetlana Ivanova did a great job as Kseniya.

The final act might not be believable, but hell, it certainly was entertaining! 'August Eighth' is well worth seeing, if you don't mind subtitles. This is definitely among my favourite Russian films.