I'll address one common gripe first. I for one cannot get over movies where they have so-called foreigners of whatever nationality talk in English, either with or without accent. This film has the Russians talk actual Russian and Poles talk Polish, which I appreciate.
They have these scenes drag on though, so if you don't enjoy reading subtitles, this won't be for you but it'll hardly be a reason to dock points; it's a conscious design decision, not a universally bad one.
Now for the plot. I started writing this because of it. There's scenes in this film that make no sense, as in, there's no good reason to have them in this movie. They don't do anything to move the plot forward. It's just padding. They're meant to convey a political message, nothing more. That's just bad movie making. At least attempt to make them fit in narratively.
The decision to incorporate these scenes in this otherwise straightforward plot was so baffling it made me check the director/writer's credentials. Which in turn made me wonder how he got the budget and green light for this movie.
Or, more likely, the nonsensical, politically charged scenes were added by Netflix's moral busybodies. [Note: I'm Dutch. I don't care one bit about the USA or its politics but I like my media propaganda-free.]
It's disheartening to think that this could've been a rather simple, pretenseless niche film about a single interesting event.
Ah, almost forgot. The movie score. It has your standard issue Hollywood "eerie thriller soundscape", though dated, but for some reason it also chooses to incorporate the weirdest choices of upbeat jazz music where it just doesn't belong. It's not incompetent, it's just very jarringly apathetic and uninspired.
As I submit this, I have this at a 6/10. But I might dock a point tomorrow after having slept on it because of the closing text. For some reason, it occured to nobody that having the following preceded by actual fear mongering about nuclear war was the single best demonstration of a complete lack of awareness and self-perception ever to be put on screen (paraphrasing): "We will attempt to accomplish that no child grows up with fear of nuclear war"
They have these scenes drag on though, so if you don't enjoy reading subtitles, this won't be for you but it'll hardly be a reason to dock points; it's a conscious design decision, not a universally bad one.
Now for the plot. I started writing this because of it. There's scenes in this film that make no sense, as in, there's no good reason to have them in this movie. They don't do anything to move the plot forward. It's just padding. They're meant to convey a political message, nothing more. That's just bad movie making. At least attempt to make them fit in narratively.
The decision to incorporate these scenes in this otherwise straightforward plot was so baffling it made me check the director/writer's credentials. Which in turn made me wonder how he got the budget and green light for this movie.
Or, more likely, the nonsensical, politically charged scenes were added by Netflix's moral busybodies. [Note: I'm Dutch. I don't care one bit about the USA or its politics but I like my media propaganda-free.]
It's disheartening to think that this could've been a rather simple, pretenseless niche film about a single interesting event.
Ah, almost forgot. The movie score. It has your standard issue Hollywood "eerie thriller soundscape", though dated, but for some reason it also chooses to incorporate the weirdest choices of upbeat jazz music where it just doesn't belong. It's not incompetent, it's just very jarringly apathetic and uninspired.
As I submit this, I have this at a 6/10. But I might dock a point tomorrow after having slept on it because of the closing text. For some reason, it occured to nobody that having the following preceded by actual fear mongering about nuclear war was the single best demonstration of a complete lack of awareness and self-perception ever to be put on screen (paraphrasing): "We will attempt to accomplish that no child grows up with fear of nuclear war"