SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Coventry "The Rifleman of the Voroshilov Regiment" admittedly has on one of the most overused and routine plots that exists in our traditional cinematic universe. It's yet another umpteenth version of the "Death Wish" story line, but still there are two tiny aspects that make the film quite unique and really made me want to see it. First of all, it's an authentic Russian production; entirely spoken in the native language and with those bizarre letters from the Russian alphabet used the title sequences. Honestly how many "regular" thrillers from Russia do you have the chance of seeing in your life? I've seen a handful of oddball Russian Sci-Fi movies from the sixties, and more recently the "Night Watch" trilogy, but those are all fancier films that were intended for the international export market. "The Rifleman of the Voroshilov Regiment" is a really small-scaled film, shot in a typical Russian village and starring ordinary Russian people. Secondly, the loving family member bent on extracting blood vengeance isn't the girl's father, brother or fiancée…It's her grandfather! On her way back home on a bright Wednesday afternoon, the incredibly cute teenage girl Katya is lured into the apartment of three macho thugs, one of which she went to school with. It naturally doesn't take long before they drug and gang-rape her. The investigation is rapidly closed, since one of the rapists' father is the police commissioner. Katya's devoted granddaddy Fjodorovich can't accept that his sweet girl locks herself inside the house and grows increasingly paranoid while those filthy scumbags remain unpunished, so he buys himself a massive – and I do mean MASSIVE – sniper rifle and meticulously prepares his quest for revenge. What are the differences between an average aged Charles Bronson and a retired 70-year-old one? I guess it's in the details. Fjodorovich carefully puts the flowerpots back on the table after he shot a rapist in the testicles from a window across the street, rejoins his friends who are playing chess on the market square and stands along in the curious crowd when the ambulance arrives. The screenplay also masterfully captures how Fjodorovich clearly doesn't care too much about what the possible consequences are for him in case he gets caught; as he purely acts out of love and compassion for his beloved granddaughter. "The Rifleman of the Voroshilov Regiment" is a slow- paced, but beautifully intense and absorbing drama rather than an exciting and furious revenge thriller. Our senior citizen Mikhail Ulyanov puts down a magnificent performance and, thanks to him coming across as a completely normal and prototypical grandfather, his character promptly earns all the viewer's sympathy and support. The rest of the cast is very good as well, the musical score is serene yet sublime and the climax (more or less anti-climax, in fact) is courageous, intelligent and subtle. This film is fairly obscure, but worth tracking down for sure. The copy that I own started with apologies from the company that provided the subtitles for all the probable errors. Yes, well, many of the wordings in English were quite incorrect, but on the other hand I never would have been able to follow the movie if it were in Russian, so I gladly forgive them!

Manav Singh This movie is not just about a story line or suspense thriller filled with twists and turns.Its about an old man to whom her grand daughter is everything. It makes you feel the emotional attachment and strong bonding between an old man and her innocent grand daughter.It shows when the person you love the most gets hurt how it affects you.You try to get justice in every possible means but fail in every measure.The only option left is nothing but to do something on your own.Brutal crimes like rape leaves victim in trauma for whole life. And when such thing happens with the person you love the most it naturally hurts you more mentally.Same happens with the man whose grand daughter,a young innocent teenager gets gang raped by 3 drunkards and perverts. Trying hard to resort to judicious measures to put accused behind bars he fails and thus decides to teach them a lesson on his own.The old man himself being a sharp shooter starts taking revenge targeting private parts of the rapists(not to kill them) so that those perverts could never do such crime again.In conclusion i want to say that when one's loved one is a victim of such a heinous crime and when all police and judicial measures fail to provide you justice you have to do something even if it is against law.You cant leave everything on God that those who steel,murder or rape will be punished by him some day in some way.Remember God helps those who help themselves.This shows a love of an old man for her innocent grandchild.This movie left me in tears.Mikhail Ulyanov's acting as old man will move you and her grand daughter innocent acting will surely leave you in tears.This is the first Russian movie i watched and recommend it to all others if you love some one more than your own life.

Nicolai Kaltchev In answer of the previous comment I'd like to say that the movie doesn't want to be exciting with mysteries like some thriller-kind films.The idea is to make you feel like the main character (the shooter obviously) and to pick a side in the conflict-would you sit and watch like the tabla-players or you are gonna take the justice in your own hands and give retribution and a bit vengeance of course.My point is that the movie (my opinion) wants not to be interesting with some scenes of complicated events,but with the emotional side of what's happen.Because to start a war against the chief of the Russian Police Department is kinda risky and dangerous,but in this situation the old sharpshooter doesn't have any other choice. The defending of the family's honor needs extreme actions,actions who none wouldn't even think to do against such overwhelming mass of corrupted police mans.But it's true thats the situation in many countries that had left the Soviet Union (1989-1991 hope I'm not wrong for the period of the breaking down) .In the end i'm gonna finish with something in my style--> If someone close to you gets hurt,would you sit and watch or you're gonna act like a man(just phrase woman can do the same brave thing :) )

Webstuhl As the summary already said, this movie has a typical post-soviet storyline. So, if you expect an original plot you will be disappointed eventually. The plot as well as character development is pretty simple. Many scenes are set way to obvious, so that you're able to guess what's going to happen next. This, of course, makes the movie less exciting than it could be.However, there are things I really liked about this movie. I think that the actor who played the granddad was great. You really believe him, you feel what he feels and you will be surprised how much strength this old man can bring up and how determine he is seeking for justice. That's all this movie delivers. It's simple and entertaining, definitely worth watching, there's just nothing special about it...