I was ready to put down this fantasy film for the following reasons:
1. The very cliché colourless blue-green photography that has become almost universal since "Lord of the Rings" and makes me wonder if fans of those films (and the CGI artists responsible for them) have ever experienced real sunlight; 2. The bloody battle scenes borrowed from the spastic camera work of "Gladiator" and the first scene, borrowed from "Conan the Barbarian"; 3. The fact that there are not enough speaking parts and the stories, back-stories and flashbacks are difficult to follow and put together; 4. The music that aspires to loudness more than anything else; 5. And the fact that most blond, bearded long-haired Russians look alike.
But I decided to be more lenient because...
1. This is a Russian fantasy film that can look back to a great tradition of movies like "Sadko" (1954); 2. It is based on a book and it must have been difficult to compact all that data into a coherent whole; 3. The ending is kind of cool and carries a positive message; 4. The sets, costumes, art direction and composition are excellent - IN SPITE of the anaemic colour scheme; 5. I liked the bat; 6. It wasn't an American action film.
1. The very cliché colourless blue-green photography that has become almost universal since "Lord of the Rings" and makes me wonder if fans of those films (and the CGI artists responsible for them) have ever experienced real sunlight; 2. The bloody battle scenes borrowed from the spastic camera work of "Gladiator" and the first scene, borrowed from "Conan the Barbarian"; 3. The fact that there are not enough speaking parts and the stories, back-stories and flashbacks are difficult to follow and put together; 4. The music that aspires to loudness more than anything else; 5. And the fact that most blond, bearded long-haired Russians look alike.
But I decided to be more lenient because...
1. This is a Russian fantasy film that can look back to a great tradition of movies like "Sadko" (1954); 2. It is based on a book and it must have been difficult to compact all that data into a coherent whole; 3. The ending is kind of cool and carries a positive message; 4. The sets, costumes, art direction and composition are excellent - IN SPITE of the anaemic colour scheme; 5. I liked the bat; 6. It wasn't an American action film.