Excellent but underrated film

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The main thing about this movie people need to know, is that Alexandr. Nevskaya Bitva could've been a solid Hollywood production, unless it was made in Russia. I mean, the structure of the plot and the themes appearing in this movie are heavily used in many Hollywood movies, including big summer blockbusters. The difference, of course is the budget. Due to the lack of enormous amounts of money usually spent on such movie in Hollywood, the filmmakers were forced to work with what they could get. And they are doing the job very well, despite the obvious flaws - the decorations and production design are small and only fragmental, the amount of extras for the battle scenes is limited, the fight choreography of the mass on the background is not very good. But these problems are more or less overcomed by good director, good camera work and good editing. The viewer just needs to help a little by being less critical on production values. We are all used to big Hollywood spectacles, and this movie would've been glad to be one, but cannot from obvious reasons. It could be easily ridiculed because of it, but it will not be very justified.I was satisfied with the story, which is clear and straightforward. There are intense moments, the movie keeps the interest and the attention of the viewer by action, plot twists and relationships between the characters. This is a bold attempt to make Hollywood like movie, and the result is quite entertaining and watchable.