Another epic-feeling but strangely muted Eastern adventure flick. I got the same feeling about this as I did with the BROTHERHOOD OF BLADES films from China; maybe it's because they're both communist countries, but films like this feel a little too earnest for their own good. FURIOUS follows a young soldier who loses his memory for a while after his village gets attacked by Mongol warriors only to recover it for a battle at the climax. It's quite obvious stuff, long-winded in its approach, with plenty of action but staged in a way which feels very artificial with a lot of green screen usage and the like. I was left wanting more despite all that they offer.

War is nothing to make fun of - you shouldn't glorify it either. But I think it is ok to make it look as good as the movie does here. For the purposes of the movie and the story it does tell.

Good acting, good fights/choreography and really beautifully shot. This really does look and sound great. You may not feel the emergency of the story or the main character but it is there. The CGI is also quite good if not perfect. A more than decent effort, if you are into this kind of stuff - not sure if the ending works for everyone, but that can always be an issue no matter how or where a movie takes you.

Steeped in the history of the "Golden Horde" of Batu Khan that established an enormous Mongol Empire in the early 13th century, this is actually quite a decent adventure yarn that pits a brave bunch of Russian soldiers led by Evpatii the Furious (whom, for the purposes of this film may also be called Evpatii the Forgetful as he has significant memory loss issues) against the seemingly invincible invader. It has very definite shades of the "300 Spartans" (1962) style of story about it - the courage of a few dedicated and courageous patriots facing insurmountable odds - and Ilya Malakov has more than a little Michael Fassbender about his performance. It's an end to end action adventure with plenty of battle scenes: nobody is safe as folks are slain left, right and centre regardless of age or sex - in front of the troops of the advancing Khan (Aleksandr Tsoy). I managed to see this with subtitles, which helped enormously with the story. It's, maybe, a bit too long but the effects convey the arctic-style environment in which they all fought, and the accompanying sense of peril quite well and reasonably convincingly. It's a story about pride. bravery, honour and love of country (mercifully, completely lacking in modern day "ye-ha" jingoism) - this time from a Russian perspective, and I quite enjoyed watching it.