Viy (2014) N
A third film based on Gogol's story in three (or was it four) days.
This latest (as far as I know) filming of the story is taking much more liberties than the two older movies. The events of Gogol's story have happened approximately one year ago and only parts of that story are told to our new protagonist, a cartographer from England. Stylistically movie is closer to Van Helsing or The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen than its predecessors.
Main story is a mess and there are completely unnecessary subplots (like everything that happens in London). I read there was quite a lot of problems with the filming (it took seven years to finish and it was on ice more than once due to lack of funding) and maybe that's one reason why both story and characters often don't make much sense.
VIsually Viy looks really good; settings are great, costumes are fancy and special effects are adequate (the church scene from which the picture is taken looked absolutely marvelous). Acting isn't nearly as good and it's not helped by horrendous dubbing (there are few English actors and at least in the version I saw their English dialogue is mostly dubbed in Russian but the original audio is still there so we hear a sentence starting in English and after a second or two a Russian dialogue comes over it).
It's very different from the other two filming. I don't fully agree with the stylistic choice but bad script and wonky directing are much bigger issues. I like how Russians are always willing to have fun with their own vodka drinking stereotype and the funniest parts of the film happen when most of the characters are drunk. It might not be the most sophisticated humor but I like it.
Ambitious attempt to compete with Hollywood fantasy spectacles that is visually quite impressive but fails with its narration. Kinda recommended for the visuals alone.
A third film based on Gogol's story in three (or was it four) days.
This latest (as far as I know) filming of the story is taking much more liberties than the two older movies. The events of Gogol's story have happened approximately one year ago and only parts of that story are told to our new protagonist, a cartographer from England. Stylistically movie is closer to Van Helsing or The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen than its predecessors.
Main story is a mess and there are completely unnecessary subplots (like everything that happens in London). I read there was quite a lot of problems with the filming (it took seven years to finish and it was on ice more than once due to lack of funding) and maybe that's one reason why both story and characters often don't make much sense.
VIsually Viy looks really good; settings are great, costumes are fancy and special effects are adequate (the church scene from which the picture is taken looked absolutely marvelous). Acting isn't nearly as good and it's not helped by horrendous dubbing (there are few English actors and at least in the version I saw their English dialogue is mostly dubbed in Russian but the original audio is still there so we hear a sentence starting in English and after a second or two a Russian dialogue comes over it).
It's very different from the other two filming. I don't fully agree with the stylistic choice but bad script and wonky directing are much bigger issues. I like how Russians are always willing to have fun with their own vodka drinking stereotype and the funniest parts of the film happen when most of the characters are drunk. It might not be the most sophisticated humor but I like it.
Ambitious attempt to compete with Hollywood fantasy spectacles that is visually quite impressive but fails with its narration. Kinda recommended for the visuals alone.