Istrebiteli

Simple made, with cool stories, and good effects for low budget. I think it's really one of best in low budget ww2 series.

Thanks to Amazon Prime Video, I watched all 12 episodes of this series and enjoyed them. After serving in Europe during the Cold War and studying a lot of WW2 military history, I have a pretty solid understanding of Soviet tactics and equipment. "The Attackers" (the title used by Amazon) is realistic on many levels, and reasonably well acted. It's definitely worth watching if you're interested in this aspect of WW2.

As for specific elements, here's my opinion: 1. Aviation scenes: While it appeared to have a lot of CGI inserted, the cockpit close ups looked pretty realistic, as if they were filmed in the air.

2. Military weapons and vehicles: Extremely realistic! Both Soviet and German forces were operating what looked like original trucks, half tracks, and tanks. All of the weapons used by both sides were the real thing, or perfect reproductions.

3. Uniforms: Spot on.

4. Political commentary: This is definitely not a propaganda series. Topics ranged from Stalin's pre-war purges of military leaders, the German war crimes, Soviet war crimes, courage and sacrifice, religion, and ineptitude of higher levels of command.

5. Personal relationships: Sometimes cheesy, but generally authentic. (Reminded me of my deployment to Iraq, especially the humor and sexual tension between male and female soldiers.)

The Eastern Front, 1943. Two Soviet pilots, straight out of training, join a veteran fighter squadron on the front line. They will have to learn quickly as the adversaries are experienced and cunning and a mistake could make the difference between life and death.

Great Russian WW2 drama series. Quite realistic in its feel, with gung ho heroics kept to a minimum and the detail largely quite accurate. Not just a one-dimensional action series either as it looks at the war from many angles and covers many themes: home life, combat fatigue and how it is misunderstood, conditions in the trenches, treatment of wounded combatants. The wasteful, inefficient Soviet politics and ideology also receives much attention, unflatteringly (to my surprise!).

Throw in some good character depth and some interesting sub-plots regarding the pilots' personal lives and it is quite engaging and entertaining.

Special effects and action sequences are generally pretty good. However, some aspects do feel quite cheap, e.g. Flying scenes that look like they're from a video game. Some of the plot developments are quite clumsy. Worst of all, the English subtitles are very badly done. I don't understand Russian but some of the translations can't possibly be right. However, you get used to the clumsiness of the subtitles and learn to figure out from the context what was said (or just hope that a particular undecipherable sentence wasn't important!).

Also a pity that the writers couldn't maintain the solidity of plot until the end. It was going very well until about Episode 10 or so, after which the plot starts to get a bit loose. The final episode is particularly loosely written, making for an ending that is a bit disappointing.

Still, great entertainment and enthralling viewing.

Ok let's get the bad out the way first, Subtitles are way too fast making them difficult to read but that doesn't mean you can't follow what's going on, the female pilots are way to glamourous and the male pilots are far too photogenic. It's not a big budget production, but they do well depicting the air battles using the Sturmovik computer game which 'Air Crash investigation' has already done successfully. But they make a good fist of it, most of the story is about the Pilots and groundcrew's interaction, blundering political intrigue, love interests and the sudden loss of colleagues. I have been binge watching during the lockdown and the Attackers have been a pleasant distraction, yes it's a bit far fetched but it give good indication of the trials of the Russian air force in WW2 which had male and female pilots serving together. It's not going to challenge you but you will care about the characters, their losses and their victories whilst it gives a different view of WW2 from the Russian angle. Currnetly watching the 2nd series 'Attackers the last battle' which only has a few of the first cast in, but the women are even more glamourous and the political intregue more vicious!

Did you know that Eketrina Vilkova is the most beautiful woman in acting today? And that her acting skills are second to none. If not just watch this show and others of her movies to see what I say is the truth. She is simply heavenly and has such stage presence. If she was in Hollywood she would be in the top echelon of actors. Scarlett Johansson is a joke in comparison to Vilkova. Hollywood is missing out by not casting her in top movies. The finest actress I've seen in the past decade without a doubt!