MovieChat Forums > Bitva za Sevastopol (2015) Discussion > Promising start but needs a serious re-e...

Promising start but needs a serious re-edit


After having recently watched the excellent "Battalion" about a female Russian unit fighting the Germans during WW1, I had high hopes for this one too.The packaging and title would give you the impression that the narrative would centre on the Battle of Sevastopol but this is only used as a backdrop to tell the story of a female Russian sniper who killed over 300 Germans.Slightly misleading but the lead is very engaging, giving a fine performance;action sequences are also quite decent although some of the CGI on the planes doesn`t convince. .The story unfolds well with interesting background and introduction to some characters,including a "man-hungry" friend, but we`re suddenly transported forward to 1942 as it transpires the character was later sent to Washington to campaign for a second front.According to the film the sniper also built a relationship with Eleanor Roosevelt and even had a nice new dress bought for her!These scenes unfortunately become all too frequent,disrupt the main narrative and add very little to the film.
Later the sniper is told by her new officer to "listen to your heartbeat" but we can`t her anything apart from some Russian singer belting out a vocal during a pretty terrible montage sequence.Another montage(yes another)shows her falling in love and killing more Germans;surely though the sniping scenes need to be silent,full of tension-isn`t that largely what the film`s supposed to be about?I`m afraid it gets worse as the viewer is robbed of what should have been an incredibly poignant moment as she carries her injured officer on her back accompanied by a totally inappropriate vocal track-the scene dies and all credibility dies with it.A real shame.

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I saw the movie introduced as the story of LP. Agreed that the title can be misleading but I guess it's difficult to come up with a title for a biopic without using her name, and her name is not very marketable internationally. Having Eleanor Roosevelt in there would make them want to target the US audience as well.

It was made in action-movie style. There were a few target-hunting shots but the typical audience doesn't have any long range shooting experience to appreciate more detail.

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