Review of Admiral (2008) by Michael P — 20 Feb 2014

For what was until recently the biggest budget Russian film of all time, it is a suitably grand and opulent affair, and (a cynic would say) a conscious attempt by the nationalist post-Soviet Russia to rehabilitate what 'heroes' could be found in the leadership of the White Army (who were largely reactionary aristocrats, albeit patriotic ones).

This message of strong, duty bound, Russia is backed up with the sort of huge Orthodox overtones that have come to dominate the conservative right in Russia. Technically though, the story is decent, as are the scenes of battle, though every now and then the CGI team bite off a bit more than they can chew and that does rankle a bit.

- Those CGI battleships just aren't as convincing as a model would have been! - The real problem is that it's too long and too melodramatic. One can tell that the makers were betting as much on selling this as a 'grand Russian film made by Russians' as they were 'a good film', and this means they coasted a bit when it came to script editing.

The end result is an acceptable but forgettable Russian effort at a war-drama, which has enough atmosphere to keep history buffs interested and enough of a drawn out romance to engage those who aren't paying attention to the Czechoslovak Legion's uniforms.