Audience Member
making is not good enough
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/27/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Attack on Leningrad is a pretty good movie, but one that I found to be a bit disappointing as well. By the looks of the trailer, it looked like this was going to be a sweeping war movie, it was, and wasn't. The film started well, quite exciting and thrilling, but it slowed down near the end, and it felt like the filmmakers didn't know how to conclude the story. I thought it was a decent ending, but one that could have been much better. The film is inaccurate, but for the most part, it shows us the chaos of what it was like for the Russians fighting. There was something missing from the film's script to really make it standout among other genre picture. The cast on the other were quite good, and elevated the average material enough to make this film watchable. This is not an awful film, it's just that it lacks in terms of authenticity and great storytelling. The film shows a bit of the suffering during the Second World, but it could use a more in depth structure to tell this compelling story. As a drama film it's average and as a war film, it's nothing remarkable. Despite the movies flaws, it's a worthy film to watch, but it really doesn't stand out among some of the best War films ever made. The film had so much potential in being a terrific experience, but it leaves you wanting more. The cast, like I said make it good, but at times there are things that really don't fit and fall flat. Attack on Leningrad should have been a memorable genre movie, but it's one of those movies that doesn't necessitate multiple viewings. Entertaining, but the script and execution could have been better overall.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/07/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Depressing, Depressing...
Rated 1/5 Stars •
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
02/01/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Not the greatest production in history, and the choice of an englishwoman as the focus of the film is contrived, but a poignant reconstruction nonetheless of a dark hour in 20th Century history.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
01/25/23
Full Review
Audience Member
If you want to watch 2 hours of people starving to death... this ones for you! the characters are very numerous and bland to know end. and the worst acting I have ever seen from a child. Don't let the cover fool you... little action in this one!
Rated 1.5/5 Stars •
Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars
02/12/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Awful, ham-fisted attempt to put onto film a subject that has been long overdue. The near 900 day siege (or snippet thereof) of Russia's second largest city during World War II should be the ideal premise for an engaging drama, but unfortunately this Russian/British co-production fails on many levels. It isn't interesting, dramatic, correct or entertaining. It also isn't well directed (Aleksandr Buravsky) or acted for the most part, despite having personalities like Gabriel Byrne, Mira Sorvino and Armin Mueller-Stahl in the cast.
The basic story is about Kate Davis (Sorvino), a British journalist reporting from Leningrad, who by circumstance is left in the city when the siege starts in earnest. She seeks shelter with a Communist official, Nina (Olga Sutulova) and a Leningrad family. Together they try and avoid starvation and German bombs, in the hope of getting through the ordeal alive.
However, everything seems uneven, disjointed and somehow half-hearted which is a dreadful shame as it was possible to make a good film with the material at hand.
Other failures include appalling clichés, terrible dialogue, silly sub-plots and some ill-fitting post-production dubbing. Notoriously absent are the Finns, who were responsible for the Northern sector on the Leningrad front and also few and far between are scenes of cannibalism, which was rife throughout the city. As well as that, every bombing attack is carried out by smiling German pilots in BF109 fighters, rendered in sub-par CGI and there are moments of supposed drama and tension that actually made me laugh out loud!
There are some good points, though. The opening scene is rather well done, even if the German panzers are woefully incorrect and the idea pinched from 'Enemy at the Gates'. The Russian and German characters speak Russian and German (for the most part anyway, the Russians can speak incredibly good English when needed!) and Olga Sutulova's performance as the Communist militia (Nina) is rather well done, dwarfing everybody else. Unfortunately, it's just impossible to ignore the film's shortcomings and simply enjoy the story as the amateurish inaccuracies and terrible script (right down to the last scene) invade the enjoyment so overwhelmingly.
War is hell...
...but it isn't half as bad as having to sit through this.
Rated 1/5 Stars •
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
01/28/23
Full Review
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