VividSimon Simply Perfect

Fluentiama Perfect cast and a good story

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Beulah Bram A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Kirpianuscus The basic temptation - to compare it with the American hijaking films. the basic sin - to ignore the context when it was made. and, not the last, to ignore the story. sure, many cliches. and fight scenes. and the brave sailors . but the film is more than part from a too familiar series. it is nice, unrealistic - so amusing, chaotic and full of precise pieces of Soviet entertainment . result - its succes. and the perspective from today about a new tool of propaganda in Brezhnev era.

hte-trasme This film was very successful when it came out, for reasons that also make it difficult to evaluate in a vacuum today. In 1979 action'adventure films with Kung Fu were something new in Soviet cinema, and this example caused a sensation. There's even a sense that the filmmakers new this is all they had to do -- the movie has manifestly no designs on a complicated plot or characters, or on anything other than being a straightforward, fast-moving crime film. It almost seems to be shooting at being a plain, unadorned, platonic example of a genre film, which makes it suit nicely the needs of an introduction to Soviet action thrillers, but ensures it doesn't seem like anything special in comparison with similar films of other countries and/or future years. While it presents something new in the realm of contextualized genre for its viewers, it relies on some very old tropes and some rather imperialistic views of island life, and generically-drug-related international criminals. It's also surprisingly open in its violence, with people shown being shot, burned, and tortured quite unflinchingly. This against a rather idyllic-looking spotless blue sea. On it's own, this movie doesn't seem like much apart from easily- digested but insubstantial light action such as may have been produced anywhere, but the fact of its release and success in context give it some historical interest as well.

jfirst _Pirates of the XX Century_ was (and is) the highest grossing film in Soviet Russian history. It was released in 1980 and reflected growing interest not only in American and Hong Kong film genres like action and martial arts, but also a desire to see other, more exotic, locations than were physically possible for average Soviet citizens. From the perspective of someone living in the year 2003 and continually bombarded with action-adventure blockbusters that contain nothing apart from advanced special effects, this movie is not incredibly successful. The historical context of the film is absolutely necessary to understand why this film was so radical and so popular in its time and place. Soviet cinema in the 1960s and 1970s was a high art cinema by and large, and was only marginally geared toward so-called popular tastes. _Pirates_ dispensed with narrative development almost entirely, and was more interested in action sequences, the iconography of which attempted to touch upon adolescent fantasy. On another level, the Soviet government's allowance of this film to be made represents greater attention to the profit-making potential of cinematic products. Thus, the appearance of _Pirates_ indicates a certain transformation of notions of the enlightened Soviet film spectator toward a conception of the film-goer as consumer, much as is consistent with views in capitalist countries. In any case, this film is certainly worth your time if you have any interest in the cultural politics of the former Soviet Union

_Sergey_ It was the first action movie made in banned in USSR Hollywood action style. It is not even close to the Hollywood action movies of that time. The plot is childish, the directing is so-so. This movie succeeded because it was first of its kind in Russia. Even though I watched it many times I have to admit it was kind of naive and I did not like it. This is not the best example of Russian action movie. This is just the first experience.