Why so much hype?

the audience applauded

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

This is one of the best movies I have watched in years. Not only is it a historical war movie based on actual events, it is also a very captivating love story. It is one of those movies that you keep thinking about long after it has ended. The performance by Konstantin Khabenskiy is exceptional and Oscar-worthy. Had this been an American movie I have no doubt it would have been a Best Picture contender at the Oscars. Aside from the story and acting by all the actors, the music and sweeping cinematography is quite on point.When it comes to battle scenes, the last big battle towards the end is one of those that leaves you scratching your head as to what was going through the heads of the Soldiers when their Commanders ordered them to carry out these massive charges straight into machine gun fire. Well-made movie that deserves watching again.Now, because it is based on actual events, I am about to Wikipedia the heck out of the characters. It is just one of those movies where you connect with all the characters so much that you want to read and know more about the real-life people.

romanticism, good acting, wise script, history's respiration, great atmosphere. a film who seems be perfect for a large target. because it has coherence and rhythm and moral questions and Chekhov's universe drops. it is a blockbuster. and that fact could not be a real surprise. for a part of viewers, for who Kolchak is a hero not only for his political position, for the last sacrifice and for the status of lover, but for its impressive career as explorer, the film is only a sketch. for the fans of old films, the meeting with Nikolay Burliav, as the Tsar , is a real surprise. a film about war and love and feelings. about the change of society. and about values. that is all. but the manner used does the difference from many other films with same subject.

Ever since the Soviet Union collapsed, Russia has endured a struggle for a redefinition of it's own identity. The fight between communist values and the ones which existed before 1917 is fierce, and "Admiral" is yet another byproduct of such struggle. What grew to be extremely popular in the last decade or so is the glorification of the past pre-communist times, when all was neat and dandy. Beautiful aristocrats enjoyed life in all it's glory, glances met at balls on courts, compliments were exchanged in even a simplest conversation, heroism was the ultimate distinction for a gentleman (which everyone seemed to be) and a deep devotion to religion. Then, the filthy Bolseviks came and took all that away... was it really like this? Well if you watch "Admiral" and have some sympathy towards the royal Russia, you'd pull that shallow conclusion.A heroic admiral of Royal Russian Navy, with a deep sense for justice, religion and fairness falls into a twist of revolution and love with a breathtaking young woman, who happens to be married to one of his colleagues. They could have it all, yet faith had other plans. Eventually the most noble Mr Admiral gets shot by commie bad guys while the fair lady lives to tell the story. Almost a new version of Titanic... hahaha.I'm not Russian but you don't need to be one in order to see the one sided shallowness of the story. I'm pretty sure that some people on high positions and with deep pockets had quite a comfy life before the revolution, however, there wouldn't have been one if everyone else enjoyed such lushness. We are served with a black-white pattern of and enlightened Tsarist Russia and rotten revolutionaries who can't read and kill women. The truth is somewhere in the middle as ever, and if you look for that nice balance of history and film, you won't find it in Admiral.This beyond any doubt was a costly project. The frame is pretty good, scenery is on the level, costumes are authentic, locations are proper, yet all that just isn't enough to cover the partial and shallow script. The 3 points go to the technical outcome. It's nice to look and but that's it really.

Perhaps I was not the only moviegoer who was reluctant to go and see this film. For too long time Russians have been fed with another history of Great October Revolution, and now the trend is to try and show it in complete reverse. But this appears to be absolutely irrelevant to anyone who wasn't born in the USSR. And then, the main storyline is love, and civil war appears to be just a background, but an essential background as the title character Kolchak is the head of the White Guard Army faithfully fighting for ideas and beliefs of falling Russian Empire. The story is very well served, focusing not on the fall of Empire and what followed that fall, but on the personality of Kolchak himself. He is a human with his own vices and weaknesses, a man who had a lot of affairs but only one true love. The opening sea battle gives a taste of unwanted pathos to the story. Being trapped by enemies on severely damaged ship with half of the crew either dead or invalid, then-captain Kolchak single-handedly manages to cause irreparable damage to German "Karl Friedrich" ship and win the battle, which looks a bit surreal. What follows is Kolchak's rise and Russian Empire's fall intertwined with a strong feeling between him and his friend's wife, Anna. The story is inaccurate in terms of historical authenticity, but nevertheless impressive and epic. The title character of Kolchak is brilliantly portrayed by Konstantin Knabensky, who finally gained the maturity needed and a slight tinge of pathos which never goes away throughout the entire movie. The role of Kolchak's ally and friend, general Kappel, is also well portrayed by Sergei Bezrukov who seems to overact in most of his roles, but this time hits the nail right in. Another notable character is Sonya, Kolchak's wife played by Anna Kovalchuk. This stoic woman endured her husband's numerous adulteries with infinite grace and patience, finally losing him to the femme fatal Anna Timireva but never stopping to love him. The character of Anna herself was meant to be the highlight of the movie, an image of a wealthy married woman who gives up everything to follow her true love through war and misery, but instead appeared to be a flat, insignificant, and very badly played by Elizaveta Boyarskaya role. She is simply not credible and far from portraying this complex character, pushing only with her natural beauty instead. She doesn't care whether she loves Kolchak, doesn't care if he is dead or alive - she just moves and talks respectively to the storyline. That's why the love story itself fails to be delivered on screen and leave the audience with any message. Having said that, it doesn't mean that the movie is bad at all, it just lacks this emotional grip on the audience in terms of love story, but it delivers the story of one man who attempted to change the history, and the history itself behind that man.