Perhaps I was not the only moviegoer who was reluctant to go and see this film. For too long time Russians have been fed with another history of Great October Revolution, and now the trend is to try and show it in complete reverse. But this appears to be absolutely irrelevant to anyone who wasn't born in the USSR. And then, the main storyline is love, and civil war appears to be just a background, but an essential background as the title character Kolchak is the head of the White Guard Army faithfully fighting for ideas and beliefs of falling Russian Empire. The story is very well served, focusing not on the fall of Empire and what followed that fall, but on the personality of Kolchak himself. He is a human with his own vices and weaknesses, a man who had a lot of affairs but only one true love. The opening sea battle gives a taste of unwanted pathos to the story. Being trapped by enemies on severely damaged ship with half of the crew either dead or invalid, then-captain Kolchak single-handedly manages to cause irreparable damage to German "Karl Friedrich" ship and win the battle, which looks a bit surreal. What follows is Kolchak's rise and Russian Empire's fall intertwined with a strong feeling between him and his friend's wife, Anna. The story is inaccurate in terms of historical authenticity, but nevertheless impressive and epic. The title character of Kolchak is brilliantly portrayed by Konstantin Knabensky, who finally gained the maturity needed and a slight tinge of pathos which never goes away throughout the entire movie. The role of Kolchak's ally and friend, general Kappel, is also well portrayed by Sergei Bezrukov who seems to overact in most of his roles, but this time hits the nail right in. Another notable character is Sonya, Kolchak's wife played by Anna Kovalchuk. This stoic woman endured her husband's numerous adulteries with infinite grace and patience, finally losing him to the femme fatal Anna Timireva but never stopping to love him. The character of Anna herself was meant to be the highlight of the movie, an image of a wealthy married woman who gives up everything to follow her true love through war and misery, but instead appeared to be a flat, insignificant, and very badly played by Elizaveta Boyarskaya role. She is simply not credible and far from portraying this complex character, pushing only with her natural beauty instead. She doesn't care whether she loves Kolchak, doesn't care if he is dead or alive - she just moves and talks respectively to the storyline. That's why the love story itself fails to be delivered on screen and leave the audience with any message. Having said that, it doesn't mean that the movie is bad at all, it just lacks this emotional grip on the audience in terms of love story, but it delivers the story of one man who attempted to change the history, and the history itself behind that man.
Review of Admiral
