Why you can trust GamesRadar+ Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about our reviews policy.
Bidding to be ‘The Russian Saving Private Ryan ’, Fedor Bondarchuk’s film loosely retells the true story of Pavlov’s House: a single platoon that managed to hold a building, 300 -style, for a year against waves of Nazis.
It’s a cinematic no-brainer, of course, but one that is marred by Masha (Yanina Studilina), a fictional damsel in distress who becomes the soldiers’ reason to fight; which they do in stylised scenes that, while technically impressive, feel jarringly ‘cool’ for the film’s saccharine tone.
A solid enough war flick, but Spielberg doesn’t have too much to worry about yet.
