Rating : 5/10
Release Date : 26th June, 2015
Time : 137 minutes
Director : Daniel Espinosa; Writer : Richard Price, based on the novel by Tom Rob Smith; Music : Jon Ekstrand
Starring : Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman, Vincent Cassel, Fares Fares, Jason Clarke



This is like one of those brooding, heavy Russian novels � where an oppressive, weighty air of depression hangs over everybody and everything (most of the movie is set in the just-rid-of Stalin 1953). I think there is actually just one scene where someone smiled. And in the midst of it all, Tom Hardy, a rising star of the secret service, has to cope with the intrigues of office politics, the indifference of his beloved wife (Noomi Rapace), and the �minor� challenge of finding a serial child killer in a country where murder doesn�t officially exist. Murder, after all, is a capitalist disease, borne of greed and cannot exist in Paradise.



There is a touch of much ado about nothing. Something cinematically is not handled the right way as the emotion, the shock, the revelations don�t come through with the requisite impact. There is a lot happening � the jealousy of a fellow officer, Joel Kinnaman, who�s a little too quick to pull the trigger. The travel internally, the glimpses of industrial Russia, the chasing down of a traitor (Jason Clarke), the change in fortunes, the horrible death of the child of a close friend and colleague (Fares Fares) and the meeting with a General, Gary Oldman, who reluctantly helps with the investigations. It was also disappointing to see Noomi, so feisty in Sherlock Holmes : Game of Shadows, reduced to a rather passive role.




But through it all, it doesn�t manage to inveigle us emotionally � apart from some feelings towards our hero � waging a lone, heroic battle against the rest of the world � you don�t truly feel the shock, horror, anger that you should as the tragic, horrible events occur. Just an overall sense of apathy, which isn�t good for a film which seems to last longer than it actually is�




PS : Rant Begins : Why do westerners take so much delight in only showing, portraying the negative sides of the non-western bloc countries ? Has there ever been a Hollywood film, set in Russia, which shows its positive aspects, happy people ? Isn't this a most dangerous, insidious form of propaganda ? : End of Rant