Istrebiteli

If you only ever judge WW2 by what Hollywood shows us then your as ignorant as can be. The Russians play an enormous part and this series shows just how it was for them. Men & women fighting together in difficult conditions. Political Commisars in every unit indoctrinating the troops and all fighting a dirty war that is seldom fully recorded here in the west. D-Day saw 7 divisions land on Normandy. Russia fought 50 divisions of German infantry and armour at least.

As for the production, it is representational and captures the feel very well. Russians don't have the luxury of big fancy CGI firms doing their fight scenes and to be honest it's the story line that makes the show, so we'll done to the script writers and the actors.

I think a lot of Russian made programmes and films are greatly underestimated. If as a country, they weren't so keen on poisoning people or cyber attacking someone then they could be a big player in the Movie business.

I couldn't stop watching this and found the series massively entertaining. The action is gripping and has you shooting at the screen. I welled up all the time with the romance and tragedy and the cast were brilliant. Cleverly written and completely palatable for western European viewers' tastes. Ekaterina Vilkova is superb as the woman flying ace, hard on the outside and fighting her inner emotional needs. Mariya Andreeva gives a storming performance, too, displaying international merit in the production. The subtitles could be improved for grammar, spelling and nuances, but that is not a fatal flaw and far outweighed by the whole thing. Don't miss the sequel series Attackers: The Last Fight, which is even better.

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

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!

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.