Very disappointing...

Simply A Masterpiece

People are voting emotionally.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

In same time, an error and a masterpiece. A film in which history is only an political instrument. Strong, hilarious and aggressive. And a movie in which every detail is explore in fantastic way. So, the result is a schizoid work. Shadows of Jirinovsky and medieval air. A fake Ukraine and romantic sticks. A huge picture and a boring manifesto. But the delicate fact is the absence of Gogol. The director, in past maker of spectacular pages of lost history, is in this sad case only organiser of a Russian propaganda show. Enthusiastic and full of good intentions, he crushes the original story. The Christmas tree is impressive; but only ornaments. The wood is far of the public. It is difficult to say if "Taras Bulba" is a disaster. The crumbs are good taste. The cake is old and strange. But the memory is more tempt by the beautiful coins and Kosacs costumes.

I can't really remember when was the last time I've actually watched something so poor. I'm not even gonna start on the plot and the Cossac mentality as it is a separate matter (like blaming the enemy army for defeating the regiment that was entirely drunk {sic!})So let's concentrate on the actual movie features... Picture: Narrow shots only, Special effects like in Braindead, Polish troops in Spanish conquistadors' helmets, The castle... they didn't even try to make it look properly...Sound: The whole thing sounds like from an old cassette. Sounds are so bad it actually makes you laugh, Silenced pistol sounds from James Bond imitating musket shots, Poles cursing in a very modern language,The whole thing is just... poor. miserable. There is no tension, no nothing. It's just watching some guys run throughout the set repeating stuff about Matushka Russia and Orthodox church. Actually every character repeats the bloody sentence just before dying "So good to be dying for Russia and orthodox church"... It actually reminds me soviet cinema where deadly wounded characters were giving speeches about the advantages of living in Soviet Union or something close to it in abstractness...Forgive me please being as chaotic and poor as "Taras Bulba" - it's my first time...

This "film" is the essence and the face of today's cinematograph in Russia. It has all of symptoms of it's serious illness. Let me enumerate some of it.First - film is made by government order. In this specific case it has to show Russian crowd that Poland is Enemy and that Ukraine belongs to Russia. But it's made so rudely and primitive that polish characters even win our sympathy against "kassaks".Second - budget of this film is enormous while independent cinema doesn't have ANY state support and has no small chance to develop.Third - Vladimir Bortko, director of "Taras Bulba" is one of that previously talented soviet artists who mutated under the new power and lost everything what they had for what we loved them (Bortko made "Heart of a Dog" in 1988 by Bulgakov's story). Another brightest example of such a mutant - Nikita Mikhalkov, the main monster of "new Russian cinema".Fourth and last - work of every member of film crew is absolutely weak. Awful editing, feeble script, fast-food directing, horrific two-melodies soundtrack made by extinct pop-star Igor Kornelyuk, hysterical special effects with blood made by Photoshop or Paint redactor, endless and cheerless battle scenes (under the rain with clear sky) and so on...This is not just a disappointment, this is a real condition of Russian cinematograph. And it will not change until the same people from ruling party leave their chairs.

I'd like to start off with what is good in this movie, for the list will be infinitely shorter than what is bad.Good points: 1. Bogdan Stupka ('Taras Bulba') performance. His presence in the movie is the only excuse to see the movie in the first place.2. Attention to detail in costumes and observing cossack traditions. The movie can be a good reference for re-enactors of Zaporizka Sich and Rzech Pospolita of XVI century.Bad points: 1. Patriotic speeches comprise over 50% of the total movie time. Every single cossack having at least one line in the movie, had to proclaim a speech about the never-ending glory of orthodox faith and Russian land before dying. I mean, it is OK once. It can be touching. However, in Taras Bulba there are 5 or 6 nearly identical speeches within 5 minutes span. Around the third speech/death sequence it gets really boring and you think 'will you please just shut up and die?' The word 'Russian' appears in every other sentence of the movie. I mean, I know those are Russians who make the movie with the aid from the government. I bet, anyone from outside USSR will return from the theater with the firm belief those were Russians fighting Poles. But hey, the entire thing actually happens in Ukraine! Yet, reference to Ukraine is carefully avoided and quickly mentioned only twice in the entire movie.2. Battle scenes. The movie attempts at Braveheart realism with close-ups of wounds. Which would have been OK, if they haven't shown close-ups for nearly EACH SINGLE CUT AND PIERCE in the movie. Coupled with unimpressive execution of one-on-one duels and poorly organized mass scenes (you get the full screen of cossacks and Poles walking (not running!) chaotically without any apparent purpose or sense of direction, it creates seriously sad impression.3. Performance of the younger cast. Vdovichenkov is no longer a criminal from 'the Bumer' (the BMW) but his line 'Ty chto skazal?!' (What have you just said?) was performed in the XVI century church in the same manner as previously at the criminals' meeting in 1990s. Younger son, Andriy (Petrenko) is not nearly as passionate as his father, Taras, (Bogdan Stupka). Yeah, I betray my motherland and my father, because I love you. No big deal.4. Soundtrack is as awful as in Bortko's Master and Margarita.