That kind of shit is not with me! Not being a fan of the original, nevertheless, ventured to look at the new picture, on the principle of “what if?”. I did not expect anything good, and, in general, I was not deceived.
But before I scold, I'll say a little good. In the film, there are a couple of good scenes, from which, if not stare, then smiled for sure. A couple of fights put up very well, hands and feet shaking skillfully. It is a pity that the final battle was greedy. Efremov in his repertoire, villains are funny and quite colorful.
But the rest of the trouble is solid.
A script? A mess of storylines, creeping towards the end. Moreover, the atmosphere of Azerbaijan in 1919 does not feel a penny, the color is mute at all (against the background of the original). No, the topic of corruption and the English presence has been revealed a hundredfold, but it does not fit into a single image, into a single system. It's all by itself. But what is there to say, if the authors sometimes give a specific geographical reference, then get away with a common “somewhere in the south of Russia”? And where does a horse race with an airplane to the mountains?
Especially stand out are two storylines with a dumb singer and a kidnapped daughter and a local Volkodav. In the first case, the dull singer sympathetically brightened up the prisoner’s prison routine, doing nothing to save her. But he is a positive hero... In the second case, the chauffeur of one of the old Glavheroes constantly distributes lulas (and the choreography with him is really good), warms himself, along the way, pathetically saying “no more.” I'm a Volkodav now!!!! No, not the one Maria Semyonova has. And all this is to disappear to the final battle and there is no light. Not counting the scene in the spirit of “Survivor”, which, nevertheless, came out much later, for three years.
In fact, it's a failure with the actors. Young talents have nothing to play: one works as a cabber, the second sings and dulls so that he must be awarded the Order of Stupidity of the second degree (for for the first degree it is too stupid), the third is simply beautiful and suffers, on which its entire function is exhausted.
What about the old guard? Alas and ah, but it was... painful to watch. It hurts to see how good actors can barely move around. And to leave Durov as a master of karate and even to force him to participate in the final battle ... no ... it's just ... indescribable. Time, ruthless time... At least Mukhtarbek is still cheerful. As for Bul-Bul Ogla, he does not play, but acts as an official. More specifically, an official trying to portray an actor playing ... an official. Something like that.
Tricks? Only a couple of scenes with non-Volkodav, otherwise the production is absent as such, which is not very skillfully masked by camera work and editing. God, they could not even make a circus number, but instead... put a circus number from the original, presenting it as a chronicle!!! Look, maybe it would be better to restore the original and launch it? . .
Songs? Singing the old ones, one seems new. But all of them are very short and quickly stop, except for a couple of scenes. Again, no comparison with the original.
Well, at least the politics seasoned frankly weak, and thank you.
In general, another unsuccessful sequel, which tried to parasitize the love of the audience for the original, but the final product was nowhere suitable. By itself is not a wild bottom, there have been films and worse, but it is not worth the little finger of the left leg of the original, even if you suddenly hate the original.
2 out of 10