Poutine

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.

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.

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.

Just basically a giant sigma edit of how awesome and powerful Putin is. Which hides behind being smart and edgy. Truly a main character of modern world. The only thing missing was Drive Forever playing on the background throughout the movie. Vega actually believes that Putin is Russian John Wick, going around doing whatever he wants being an unstoppable relentless force. And he actually is victorious in the end, destroying the world and dying with a little coy smile on his face. And no amount of references to Orwell will get you back from that. I wanted to throw up while I watched it, literally.

I somehow made it to the end holding on to hope that Vega is just trying to show us how cringe is this belief that Putin is actually the sigma worldchanger, but no, it is he who believes that and the film is just cringe. I'm actually disgusted to write a review for this piece of garbage, but I'm hoping to save someone from watching it for themselves. Please, I'm begging you don't.

I watched this whole movie in an Imax from start to finish. This is easily the worst movie I've ever seen. I see the reviews defending it all talk about it being psychological and cerebral. The problem with that opinion is that it's wrong. Having a movie revolve around the inner monologue between an AI man and his imaginary devil boy is neither cerebral nor historically accurate. The camera work is awful. The acting by almost everyone is awful. The movie is every sin Russia committed in order except through a sepia tone filter of inaccuracies and exaggerations. The movie is not unique in a good way, not even in an interesting way. After the brief kid Putin backstory and the, "intro" you are watching the same scene over and over again. Someone or something has more power than Putin, Putin's devil boy says to kill them, Putin makes them dead in a very anticlimactic way, Putin gets more power, repeat from Afghanistan to Ukraine for an hour and a half. This is not subversive or quirky or interesting. It's boring, bad storytelling, assumes A LOT of the unknown thoughts behind historical events, and could be shot better by a highschooler with an iphone. Except for Putin talking about Bill Clinton once there's like no actual foreign policy in the movie, barely any politics, no management or actual leading, no nuance look on Putin in either direction. Every decision Putin makes is based on what this imaginary devil boy says. The Director just assumes Putin is possessed by the Devil and has no personality. I'm not defending Putin but why make a movie about a politician in a very interesting position if all you're going to do is water him down to a demon? Why not just make a movie about the actual Devil at that point. I don't understand what this movie was trying to say or what it wants us to feel. I don't think any of these scenes played out remotely irl for the reasons the Director thinks they did. I don't know how you can manage to make a biography about one of the most well documented figures that feels mostly made up. I could overlook propaganda and fiction if it was entertaining or emotional, but it's just flat out boring and poorly made.