Such a frustrating disappointment

Load of rubbish!!

Excellent but underrated film

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Believe me, this movie is absolutely magnificent. But, I suppose it is only "pretty good" for non-Russians. I want to explain one crucial point. All that guys (except, maybe Larry) are not mobsters. All of them have university degrees and some of them are PhD. Yeah, that's true. You see, there was a paradoxical situation in Russia of 90-s. Sudden freedom (as "Sudden Death") made almost entire population poor and indefensible. There was no matter if you are PhD or not. "How far can you go?" That really matters. Actors' performance is on a higher level in the movie, except couple of insignificant supported actors. Mashkov is strong, intelligent and uncompromising. Mironova. Oh, she is the example of natural Russian Beauty. In point of fact, she has played 3 different women: glamorous girl, good-looking divorced woman with a child and then, mature 40+ lady. I was really fascinated with her play. Krasko's character brings some contrast and fun in this thriller. He is the typical representative of Russian "glubinka" (depth of the country). Andrei played very well and made fine subordinate plot. To be honest, financial and other schemes which are represented in "Oligarkh" are too simple and they are far removed from reality. I believe this is the most important drawback. All things considered, I believe that Lungin made very good movie about that weird time. Worth seeing.

the first statement needn't be proved if you've watched it. Indeed the story leaps back and forward, some details leak out too soon, but I liked the movie among other reasons because of good actors such like Vladimir Mashkov and Maria Mironova, who did here their best. the second is clear when you're Russian and read other comments like 'no subtitles and bla'. most not-American movies are not dubbed, so what? -> learn other languages if you're interested in other cultures! just the fact that this title was made in times when people like Khodorkovsky were arrested and that this movie was never broadcasted on the TV-channel which itself co-produced the film, are enough to say it's worth seeing.

To say this movie is bad is lending it too much credit. The writing and cinematography were atrocious, not to mention the amateurish acting that at times was so painful to watch that I walked away to answer a phone call and go to the bathroom - both more enjoyable.Do not watch this movie unless you're in need of a cure for insomnia. The ten line IMDb requirement is bad policy for bad movies since there's really not much to say about this travesty.There's a theory that a thousand chimpanzees sitting in a room full of typewriters could have come up with Shakespeare's masterpieces. I'll offer another theory: two chimps and a typewriter would stumble upon this story first with little effort and no editorial service.I hope something better comes out of Russia soon, or they'll be blacklisted from my DVD player.

I'm absolutely surprised that people in the West and especially in US watch this movie. Equally, I'm surprised they read War and Peace, Idiot, Crime and Punishment, Fathers and Sons etc.This is not to say the movie is of the same magnitude as the books in the list, rather that it's equally deep and ought to be equally strange for a westerner. And, as usual, the moral of the story is ( kind of ) based on a piece of ( Galich, "One more time about the devil" ) poetry, and poetry is never easy to translate. From my point of view, the story is entertaining and educating - to me. It's a little scary - to me, meaning "thank god I was too young to be a part of it", but it certainly is not "herky-jerky", characters are definitely well-developed. I was actually quite surprised how convincing the acting and the dialogs were.Someone said the movie "asks more questions than it answers", I'd say it's what a good movie should do! Art is actually about asking questions, not answering them. If you want answers, turn to religion.I rate the movie 10 out of 10 ( though it would be about 96 out of 100, some minor technicalities ).