hyped garbage

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

After watching the first two parts, I logged on to IMDb and preemptively rated it an 8/10. The third act's rododcuous script totally fumbles the story's arc and careens it into a generous 6/10. I'm not against deviating from the book, but this was a total rushed disaster. It dethroned the miniseries from "potential cult classic" to "recommended watching if you're a fan of Daniel Craig and period pieces." Fortunately, I'm in the latter category, so it wasn't a total waste - just a sore disappointment. I loved Daniel Craig's performances, and the cinematography was beautiful. It's always a treat to see the gorgeous Russian tundra.

A great cast and premise goes absolutely nowhere. Characters are shallow and have no discernible arcs. The plot seems interesting at first but can't back up the initial promise. The visual style is bland and muddy throughout. I kept thinking "this will come through with a great ending"... until about halfway through the final episode when I realized this was going to crash with a thud. Characters who seemed to be important started dying, and an ending that made everything that came before utterly useless. What a waste of time and talents.

Blundered into this on Hulu and wish I had not. The plot is bloated and yet simplistic with few real surprises. Daniel Craig does well enough with his brand of "clenched intensity" style of acting. I can handle slow moving plots and moody "tone poem" film making styles, but this is just pointless wind. There is no real build in the intensity of the story... no real climax. And the action sequence at the end of the film is ridiculous.Joe Stalin Jr. uses a bolt-action Moisin-Nagant to single-handedly wipe out a Russian Spetznaz(Special Forces) unit of about a dozen men... only to die by a single pistol shot to the chest. Booo!

Recap: Fluke Kelso is an American historian giving a lecture on Stalin in Moscow. He is approached by an old man claiming to be the only eyewitness of head of security Beria hiding the personal notebook of Stalin. This being invaluable historical material, Kelso goes to retrieve the book. But he isn't the only on interested. FSB, the secret service, is suddenly very interested in his movements and communist party members want the book's information in the upcoming election. The notebook contains information leading to Archangelsk were a secret lies hidden that might threaten the fragile Russian democracy.Comments: Originally a miniseries of two one hour long parts that are put together to a movie. Starring is Daniel Craig, supported primarily by Gabriel Macht and Ekaterina Rednikova. Despite being "only" two hours it manages to squeeze quite a lot into that time frame. The story is a classical treasure hunt, with hidden clues that need to be deciphered and followed to another clue that eventually leads to the treasure, albeit is set in recent times in Russia. Kelso and his companions is always on the hunt for the next step, next clue so something is always happening. And in the end it is tied together quite nicely, even if it gets a little too predictable.Otherwise, quite a nice story about a alternative history that is close enough to the true one that it is plausible. Especially since the true history of that time is not very clear, and open to speculation. I actually had to check on some persons and events to see what was true, what could be true and what was fiction.If you're interested in recent history or political thrillers, this is probably something you might want to watch. Otherwise, you might want to check something else out, but this wasn't bad.6/10