Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

Freaktana A Major Disappointment

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Jenna Walter The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Kirpianuscus a different perspective. less heroic. more human. about fragility, friendship, errors, sacrifice and the importance of the other. a film about men in middle of terror. and about war. not as example of blockbuster's subject, not as fresco of cruelty and victories, far by romantic nuances or dark circles. only a honest picture about few men looking survive. a film who reminds a sort of innocence and force and courage and old fashion support for be in real, deep sense , yourself. one of Russian films who are not an artistic success but a story about life who defines things, events, sacrifice and purpose of facts in different, nuanced light.

doctorholton 9th Company is worth a watch, if nothing else because it's a high-end Russian production about the Soviet war in Afghanistan. The film contains high production values and lots of blood and violence. Character development is competent. Other than that, it never really breaks out of the pack of other war films. It's part Full Metal Jacket and part Platoon, premised on a similar situation--innocent young men struggle against a nameless, non- descript enemy in a war they would not, absent the politicians, be fighting. Men come together in training, they fight each other, they fight their designated enemy, they suffer.

malhiggins I was a bit unsure wither or not to watch this film as it would mean staying up to 2am in the morning, but having done so I am extremely glad as this is a magnificent film, which pulls no punches about the horrors of war. The first part of the film dealing with basic training for raw recruits and the sheer brutality imposed on them and is similar to, as most reviewers have pointed out, the Hollywood blockbuster Full Metal Jacket.For me the plane crash scene is the introduction to the Afghan war and shows recruits stepping of the plane in Afghanistan and being replaced by jubilant veteran soldiers returning home having completed their tour of duty. The plane takes off and is then hit by an Afghan rebel SAM missile therefore forcing the plane to land again. Just as you think the plane has landed safely, a tyre bursts and it skids and crashes into a fuel dump thus incinerating everyone inside it.All this happens in front of the newly arrived recruits and sets the tone for the remaining action scenes in the film. I would not say this it is anti-war film but more like a film that show the horrors of war, which is not a bad thing.

Leofwine_draca A Russian war film that follows the exploits of a band of green soldiers as they undergo basic training before flying to Afghanistan, where they will take part in Russia's ill-attempted war in that country in the late 1980s.Having never watched a Russian war film before, I was excited about this one. Unfortunately, where 9TH COMPANY falls down is in its slavish adherence to war movie clichés and plot themes familiar from dozens of Hollywood movies that have come before. FULL METAL JACKET s a particular reference point as it follows that film's structure down to the smallest detail.Recent Russian cinema has a tendency to be bombastic and over-the-top, as was the case with recent vampire hit NIGHT WATCH. Here we get lots of overblown slow motion, drawn out scenes of the utmost emotion and some ridiculously over the top moments of melodrama.Sadly, it's also a film roughly twice as long as it needs to be, with long scenes of male bonding and dialogue that really drained my energy. The characters are bland and as a whole the cast has few standouts, although the deranged drill sergeant is a highlight. The climax is a bit silly but generally exciting and well-staged, a shot of adrenaline at the end of an otherwise sometimes sleep-inducing experience.This isn't a bad film by any means, but Kubrick did it first.