Escape from Afghanistan (2002)
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Pretty Good
Let's be realistic.
There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.
The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.
Now, don't get me wrong, this is no Oscar winner or even anything to go raving to your friends about, but this film is certainly not as bad as everyone says it is and definitely does not deserve the low score it has on IMDb.You must look past the terrible dialogue because once you do that, this is an atmospheric, gritty film about the Russian/Afghan war. When you watch this, forget everything you've heard on here and watch it with an open mind. This film, while it does have it's flaws, has a very interesting blend of chaotic action and disturbing ambiance.Like I say, certainly not the crap that everyone says it is.
This is Timur Bekmambetov's first film and to be honest it's kind of hard to judge the movie without viewing the original Russian edit. Roger Corman sliced and diced the film up and distributed this mess. It has some mildly interesting ideas and moody lighting but the film is pretty bad.Boring and confusing are two words that come to mind. Still, it gives you a window into the world of Bekmambetov during the early days of his career. The director really improved with his next outing: the remake of Corman's "The Arena", and following that, the vampire saga: "Night Watch" and "Day Watch." I think we'll be hearing a lot more from this director. He's still pretty much a diamond-in-the-rough I think. In my opinion, this film isn't really representational of his visual talents.
This is not a great film, but I enjoyed watching it. It was made in 1994, but it was "discovered" by Roger Corman in 2002, resulting in some makeshift English dubbing (of very poor quality) and a DVD release. It's not a masterpiece of film technique and the small budget shows, but its value is in showing a common soldier's view of the "Soviet Vietnam" in Afghanistan.
What a disappointment. ESCAPE FROM AFGHANISTAN had the potential to be so thrilling and engaging, but since the acting was so flat, it made it unwatchable. The overall filmmaking was mediocre at best. Too bad since it is so topical right now.