Good Russian fiction. A completely unique multi-part film. The story is so exciting and skillfully twisted that you cease to understand where reality is and where fantasy is. One series is not like the other. New characters are constantly appearing that fundamentally turn the storyline. It is clear that the author of this story is well versed in esotericism, the mysticism of the Third Reich, occultism. In many ways, the series is based on real facts, which gives it a special charm. So pulls after each series to look on the Internet and learn more about the experiments of Ahnenerbe, crystal turtles, secret orders, etc. At the same time, the series is filled with good humor, deep thoughts about life, love, eternity. It can be used for quotes!
This series has everything – fantastic events, exciting investigations, beautiful love lines, worthy of sympathy and admiration for the fate of the characters. I really like that there are no villains as such: each character has a unique view of the world and acts according to their beliefs. Arthur (Leviathan) is a scientist of the future who takes knowledge by force, “otherwise they will not give anything at all”, his accomplice Piphon – a hacker of the “world computer” – considers himself equal to the gods and wants to take their place. Great sympathy is caused by the character of Colonel Skorobeyev. He reminded me of Ivan the Homeless from The Master and Margarita. A man who faced the otherworldly, and it changed his life. At the same time, he becomes an outcast in society, but finds inner harmony and happiness. Sividov evokes compassion with his eternal inner struggle with the ghost of dreams, as well as a somewhat naive desire to connect with the deceased family in the next world. In general, this is one of those series where there are many memorable characters at once and each of them supports and enriches the main storyline.
The decoration of the film is its cast. Valentin Gaft, Egor Beroev, Vladimir Eremin, Viktor Rakov - play excellently. Pumped, however, many secondary characters who seemed to read their lines from a leaf. But that's the problem of a lot of TV shows.
Unfortunately, the film has one serious drawback – it was shot as some criminal series about the cops ala “Streets of broken lights”. This applies to the quality of the picture, effects, music. Somewhere, apparently, there was not enough budget, somewhere the director jumped. Sometimes it seems that the film was made not in 2006, but in the 90s. Maybe that's why he's not so popular. I watched it back in the days when it was shown on Channel One, gradually pulled in and realized that it was something unusual for Russian cinema. But if someone showed it to me now, maybe I wouldn't watch it. It's worth it.
Personally, I take this film as a novel with all these chapters, epigraphs from Alice in Wonderland. In the 11 years that this series has existed, I have returned to it many times. First of all, in order to be charged with kindness, warmth. After all, despite the fact that the film is about the fight against black magicians, it is very bright and from this even a little naive.
8 out of 10