BEFORE: I got word yesterday that a former colleague was in an accident in Brooklyn, he was on a moped a few days ago, waiting for the light to change, and got rear-ended by a car, driven by a woman who had no license and was high on PCP and coke. It's just horrible, he was dragged and pinned under the car, and pronounced dead at the hospital. We weren't THAT close, or maybe that's just something I'm saying to numb the pain of this. Almost ten years ago, he subbed in for me when I went on a two-week vacation, but we had some of the same film production and office skills, so I didn't have permanent work for him at the time. But he came from a town in Massachusetts that neighbors my hometown, so I felt we had a bit of a connection, though he was 20 years younger than me. It's just bizarre, and I don't think I've felt the full weight of this yet, he was well-liked by everyone in the animation and gaming worlds he worked in - I can't make it to Massachusetts for the funeral, so I'm just going to KBO, keep buggering on.
Gary Oldman carries over from "Mank", and so does one other actor.
THE PLOT: A disgraced member of the Russian military police investigates a series of child murders during the Stalin-ear Soviet Union.
AFTER: This film starts with a scene set during the Holodomor, which was a Russian invasion of Ukraine in 1933. This was also known as the great "Terror-Famine", millions of Ukrainians died after the Soviet Union tried to starve them into surrender. Well, I guess the more things change, the more they remain the same - just replace "Stalin" with "Putin", and this opening is as timely as today's headlines.
Fast forward to 1945, as the Soviet army manages to get to Berlin before the U.S. Army did, and Leo Demidov, that skinny kid from the Ukraine, becomes a national hero to the Soviets after being photographed raising their flag above the Reichstag.
Fast forward again to 1953, and Leo is a captain in the MGB, that's the Ministry of State Security, charged with tracking down and arresting dissidents. But with everyone jockeying for position in the new regime, nearly anyone can be accused as a dissident, and it's oddly reminiscent of the U.S. McCarthy hearings, each dissident is asked to name their conspirators, which gives the MGB 8 or 9 more people to check out - and each one of THOSE people names 8 or 9 more people, so it looks like there's job security, the work will never end. (In the U.S., you report crimes to the police, but in Soviet Russia, police report your crimes to YOU...)
Leo's rival in the MGB is Vasili, they came up through the ranks together but during the arrest of a dissident veterinarian, Vasili bungles the interrogation and kills the farming couple that was harboring the fugitive, orphaning their two daughters. Leo chastises Vasili for his actions, setting the two men against each other, and not for the last time. (In the U.S., you give a party for your friends, but in Soviet Russia, your friends give you TO the Party...)
After Leo learns about the suspicious death of another officer's son, found dead near a railway year, he's instructed to inform the family that the death was an accident, and to mention in the report that the boy was found fully clothed, which is a weird thing to point out - so that probably means the boy was found naked, except that's not the sort of thing that's supposed to happen in the Soviet Union. Since the country is a paradise, every potential murder is classified as an accident, and since it's paradise, there are definitely no perverted pedophile child-killers roaming about - thus crime is neatly logic-ed away and basically swept under the rug. At the same time, that veterinarian had named several other dissidents, one of which just happens to be Leo's wife - so he's forced to investigate her, and ask himself how much he REALLY knows about her... (In the U.S., your family gives you your name, but in Soviet Russia, you give your family's name...as dissidents!)
Leo's given a terrible choice, either turn in his own wife or stick by her and lose his rank - he chooses the latter, and they're forced into exile in another province, Leo is demoted to policeman, but for some reason he still has to solve the case of the serial killer who's definitely not raping and killing young boys he meets in train stations, even though that's what it sure looks like. 43 dead boys found naked and mutilated, I'm sure it's just a coincidence, right? Well, at least Leo's got a lot of time to work on the case now. He finds an ally in his superior, General Nesterov, who uses the same "turn in all your friends" mentality to round up all the homosexual men in Volsk. Sure, that'll do it.
Eventually, this turns into something like "CSI: Moscow" or perhaps "CSI: CCCP", because Demidov ends up using forensics and logic to piece together information about the killer - he must live near a train station, he's got an extensive knowledge of the rail network, none of the killings took place east of a certain point, so what does that mean? Leo and his dissident wife, Raisa, are forced to work together to get back to Moscow to interview a witness. But they're caught and sent by train to a gulag, and they have to work together again to escape the killers on the train and get back to Volsk. This is a form of marriage therapy, I suppose.
Leo's old rival, Vasili, returns once the killer is found, and it's showdown between the two men over the killer, and maybe over Raisa as well. I couldn't help but think of Bane from "The Dark Knight Rises" battling Rick Flag from "Suicide Squad" while Commissioner Gordon awaits the outcome of the fight. Just me?
Somehow, impossibly, it all works out - the killer is taken care of by Vasily, Vasily is taken care of by Leo, and he gives all credit to Vasily for solving the case. Stalin conveniently dies and Leo is offered a promotion, but he chooses instead to establish the Moscow police homicide division, as long as he can hire his old boss, General Nesterov. And his marriage to Raisa is stronger than ever, thanks to their adventures escaping from the gulag together - they even track down those two orphaned farm girls and try to build a family together. It's all maybe just a little too tidy at the end of the day. (In the U.S. you solve crimes, in Soviet Russia, crimes solve YOU)
Also starring Tom Hardy (last seen in "Spider-Man: No Way Home"), Noomi Rapace (last seen in "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest"), Joel Kinnaman (last seen in "The Suicide Squad"), Vincent Cassel (last seen in "Birthday Girl"), Jason Clarke (last seen in "The Aftermath"), Paddy Considine (last seen in "How to Build a Girl"), Josef Altin (last seen in "Tomb Raider"), Sam Spruell (last seen in "Locked Down"), Ned Dennehy (last seen in "King Arthur" (2004)), Fares Fares (last seen in "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story"), Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Mark Lewis Jones (last seen in "The Good Liar"), Xavier Atkins (last seen in "Snow White and the Huntsman"), Sonny Ashbourne Serkis (last seen in "Dolittle"), Kevin Michael Clarke, Petr Vanek, David Bowles, Michael Nardone (last seen in "Dune" (2021)), Fedja Stukan, Anssi Lindstrom, Joseph Harmon (last seen in "Bridget Jones's Baby"), Charles Dance (also carrying over from "Mank"), Tara Fitzgerald (last seen in "The King"), Samuel Buttery, Agnieskza Grochowska, Jana Strykova, Ursina Lardi (last seen in "A Most Wanted Man"), Jemma O'Brien, Lottie Steer (last seen in "Paddington"), Zdenek Barinka, Finbar Lynch, Hana Frejkova (last seen in "The Zookeeper's Wife"), Patra Lustigova (last seen in "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol"), Lorraine Ashbourne, Predrag Bjelac, Ondrej Maly, Ivan G'Vera (last seen in "Independence Day: Resurgence"), Vaclav Jiracek, Pavel Simcik, Heather Craney, Martin Hub, Flynn Matthews, Marie Jansova, Ivan Shvedoff (also last seen in "The Aftermath"), Romana Goscikova.
RATING: 6 out of 10 bogus coroner's reports
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