Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Seraherrera The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Sabah Hensley This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

bmradux I can't wait to see the first part. I saw this one with my girlfriend on the hint from an arts professor that the movie is being shown on TV. No time to read any reviews in advance. We think it was absolutely grandious. It's like a freakin' Russian painting. REAL. I really don't give squat about historical precision. I would read 20 books, or watch 20 documentaries if I wanted historical precision right now. In this movie every moment IS natural and real. Every moment is complex and unpredictable. Like in real life a situation or discussion involving more characters can find an infinite variety of endings. Now and then a sheet of grotesque improbable circumstancial humor is layered upon ...not unlike life. I was shocked by the 4.1 general IMDb rating. Relieved, when browsing through the reviews. It seems the rating is held down by the people of the former USSR mostly. "Not historically accurate" is the argument I found. So.. if you want to see a perfect movie about some strange situations and thoughts that MOST probably might have been lived and thought on Russian soil during WW2, see this! If you want "historically accurate", watch a few documentaries(again), or find some of those nice, dusty propaganda movies from that time! It will all be lean, clean and will match your current knowledge!

clasbin I watched the first 'Burnt by The Sun' years ago, not being aware it is the prelude of a trilogy. Then I saw it again, motivated by a discussion with a friend and it was enough of an incentive to follow up its sequels.It might be too soon after watching it to be truly objective but the story still has a hold on me and I can't wait to see its further development. There are times when I even forget to read the subtitles, but the movie still plays before my eyes and in my head. The fact that the script abides or not by the rules of Hollywood dogma is of little importance to me. Many great movies don't. It is rather a chance to see if the picture really grabs you or not. And what I see is a beautiful, graceful and subtle movie that leaves me no time to yawn or chew popcorn. Not a movie for people with the attention span of a golden fish. It relies heavily on the relation with the first part of the story, whatever knowledge you might have of the communism and your emotional intelligence.As a citizen of a country that was 'liberated' by the Red Army and upon which the Soviet Union bestowed the unwanted gift of communism I was paradoxically raised with neither hatred towards the Russian people nor with the forced love for them. So, when I say I love N. Michalkov with all my heart after watching most of his movies, it really means something. War clichés? Maybe, but expertly done. Things that don't add up? Eastern peoples are much more used to symbols instead of sanitized narrations of quantifiable facts. It's just how our brains work and we are not ashamed of it. Characters might not exist as depicted? That never stopped anyone from telling a story, but you may as well picture them as merging together lots of real experiences. Goofy moments? Great irony.One last thing that accounts for a lot of hate. In Soviet Union and some other countries (my own included) communism relied also on exacerbated nationalistic feelings. Some people will never recover from that while they still draw breath. Ironically, the main character psychological drama is based upon the fact that he accepts his fate because he 'loves his country'.So, those of you who get this movie, it can be like our private joke. Those of you who don't... Well, who cares about you anyway.

sauriva It's obvious that Mikhalkov is dead as a director and was never born as an actor. Pathetic, too long and without any sense this film was made on government's money and that is funny, 'cause those money would better be spent somewhere on the social sphere. The way that Mikhalkov looks at his daughter through this film makes me think he is a sick man. It's OK to help own children to achieve something, but not sticking them in every own project to make spectators vomit. Also the fact that children from schools was made to watch this film and their parents were made to buy them tickets make me sick, 'cause no one wanted to look at this piece of crap and waste their time, but this is how the bank was made.

Skullen Hmm, to be honest, I shouldn't even be writing this. This film shouldn't exist at all. The first Burnt by the Sun was perfect - and ended perfectly. When I heard that there was to be a sequel, my heart sank, and having finally seen the film, my heart is still down there... This film is bad. From the lack of plot, to the ropey acting, to the appalling FX (oh my word, God save us from yet another one of Mikhalkov's badly rendered German planes!), to the bad choice of shots (few still camera shots, showing Nikita's lost his nerve and belief in his ability to frame a shot well and meaningfully), to the absurd events that occur (e.g. defecating out of planes)... this film has nothing to commend itself. Save yourself... keep the pure memories of the first film and don't watch this.