![]() “I had seen all the other movies already and had a free evening, so decided just to check it out,” Alexei said, requesting that his surname be withheld for security reasons. Set to a budget of 200 million roubles (£1.5m), it has grossed less than 14 million roubles (£110,000) in its first two weeks, with viewers across the country reporting empty cinema halls.Ī scene from The Witness, a state-sponsored propaganda film. The release of The Witness comes on the back of plans announced by the Russian authorities to boost the production of movies glorifying Moscow’s actions in Ukraine.īut The Witness is a box-office flop. On the eve of the invasion, Vladimir Putin said Moscow had to “denazify” its neighbour, the lie that Ukraine was infiltrated by dangerous “Nazis”. In two hours of screen time, the film covers a wide spectrum of falsehoods that the Kremlin has used to justify its invasion of Ukraine. As a witness to these unspeakable horrors, Cohen sets out to tell the world the “truth” about the conflict. Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.The Witness centres on a fictional character called Daniel Cohen, an esteemed Belgian violinist who arrives in Kyiv to perform in February 2022, days before Russian troops entered Ukraine.Īs Russia launches its war, Cohen gets caught up in the fighting, witnessing a series of “inhuman crimes and bloody provocations by Ukrainian nationalists”, according to the movie’s premise.Īt one point, a Ukrainian commander is seen walking around with a copy of Mein Kampf, while other Ukrainian soldiers pledge their allegiance to Adolf Hitler. Still, these are all that hold this one down. ![]() The film seems to stop dead in its tracks when the two visit at his house in the outskirts of town which revolves around tired flatulent humor and overlong conversations that are trying to generate some humor about the arranged marriage storyline but that's in the disservice of the zombie attacks since there's none for a long stretch leading into it. ![]() With a brief flash image showing the group confronting the zombies standing in a group at a food truck is all that really shows off the only clue that something's happening which is forgotten and ignored for the main part of the film as the next instance comes way later in the film as part of the other issue here. The main issue is the somewhat clumsy manner that introduces the zombie threat into the film which is such a passing mention that very little impact is made from it. There isn't much really wrong here but it does have a few minor problems. These are what make for a good time here. However, the two big scenes here involving the zombies attacking the survivors in a bar and at the house where he meets his zombified parents offer up the kind of action that makes for a fun time featuring hand-to-hand fighting against the creatures emerging from out of the shadows of the environment, providing some solid make-up effects and practical gore that generates some fun times in the most important aspects of this kind of film. The early action around town and the confrontation at the rival bosses' house offers some intriguing and enjoyable setups with the out-of-their-element group trying to get everything in order while they try to get away from the creatures attacking them. Based on this comedic setup, it's all the more fun to see this one score nicely with the gross-out zombie action when it matters. With the need for everyone to honor their sense of familial duties and keep the peace or else it'll blow up into something far grander than what they expected, which carries itself along nicely with the comedic one-liners and situations involved with this setup that gives this one a lot to like starting off. Given the liberty of how the situation occurred to begin with which doesn't make any sense, the fact that the feud between everyone is spelled out where everyone is given enough of a backstory to understand what's going on is a great touch. One of the strongest elements here is the rather fun light-hearted storyline that pits the two families against each other at the very beginning. This was a pretty solid and enjoyable genre effort when it really mattered. Caught in a desperate situation, the son of a mob boss in a small-town at war with a rival family in the same town and tries to keep it from escalating, but in the process finds that a zombie outbreak has affected the town and turned against them, forcing him and his friends to try to get to safety from the horde.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |