Chernobyl: Abyss
The aftermath of a shocking explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power station made hundreds of people sacrifice their lives to clean up the site of the catastrophe and to successfully prevent an even bigger disaster that could have turned a large part of the European continent into an uninhabitable exclusion zone. This is their story.
- Released: 2021-04-15
- Runtime: 136 minutes
- Genre: Adventure, Drama, History
- Stars: Danila Kozlovsky, Oksana Akinshina, Philip Avdeev, Ravshana Kurkova, Arthur Beschastny, Nikolay Kozak, Igor Chernevich, Anton Shvarts, Andrey Archakov, Samvel Tadevosian, Dmitry Beseda, Pavel Davydov, Dmitry Matveev, Mariya Abramova, Daniela Bogatyreva, Alexander Alyabyev, Nikolay Samsonov, Mariya Ulyanova, Anatoly Prosalov, Alina Milkova, Margarita Mezina, Ekaterina Mezina, Pavel Chernyavskiy, Nataliya Blazhievskaya, Petr Tereschenko, Andrey Kazakov, Kai Aleks Getts, Savely Albutov, Polina Raykina, Elvira Kekeyeva, Yuliya Dzhulai, Anna-Mariya Danilenko, Anastasiya Kuimova, Aleksandr Kudrenko, Olha Makieieva, Yury Oborotov, Dmitriy Podnozov, Vladimir Simonov, Vladimir Svirskiy, Anna Dubrovskaya, Vladislav Abashin, Yelena Voronchikhina, Anton Filipenko, Oleg Ryazantsev, Alexandra Cherkasova, Yury Mezhevich, Gleb Puskepalis, Anna Shatilova, Maxim Blinov, Ren Hanami, Svetlana Kotova, Tatiana Kargaeva
- Director: Danila Kozlovsky
Comments
- kevzete - 22 January 2024
Far better than the rating suggests
Don't go in to this expecting a documentary style telling of how and why the disaster happened, you will be disappointed. If you take it for what it is and leave out your agenda and prejudice unlike 90% of these reviewers who were incapable of doing so and for some reason seemed to want a carbon copy of the HBO show and they'd no doubt hate that too.
It's a more human story of what happened without politics involved. It starts off a bit cheesy and unbelievable but really starts to draw you into it's characters and story once the reactor finally blows. You know as much as the firefighters and first responders do, there's no explanation as to why or how it happened, just how much they sacrificed to deal with it even if it takes a lot of creative liberties with the historic details.
The acting is fantastic, especially from Danila Kozlovsky who makes a great leading man. The story, cinematography and overall production quality kept me engaged till the very end with some heartbreaking and intense moments towards the end.
Seeing the rating and reading these reviews before i watched this made me go into it expecting some cheap unwatchable fluff that I'd turn off after an hour or so of bad acting, dodgy special effects and Soviet flag waving but i have to say i was shocked by how much i enjoyed it.
Leave your agenda at the door, please. - tmshrp - 30 April 2022
Confusing and full of heroic complexes
First of all, you don't learn anything about the history of Chernobyl. Nothing about how the accident has happenend, nothing about the main protagonists at the time and nothing about the political and environmental consequences (Well, the red forest was mentioned once). You need to have prior knowledge to understand the actions.
It begins with a romance and lots of red flags. One scene particularly stuck in my mind. The main actor Alexey stops an entire bus to prove his love to Olga, without any consequences. Applause from all bus passengers for the robbery-like scene was just missing.
The story remains confusing. It's about a woman (Olga) and her child, a fire brigade man (Alexey) and his almost endless courting behavior. Expensive presents for the child to impress the woman - umm... As already mentioned, you don't learn anything from the real Chernobyl - instead, at 1.23 a.m., three children about 7-9 years old, suddenly stand right in front of the reactor building to witness the accident.
It's difficult to "feel" with the actors. The transition from romance to downright sadistically staged misery of the service men begins. You'll see burned skin, bloodshot eyes and a zombie-like supporting cast. Of course, everyone is saved by Alexey and nothing happens to him even though he is running around on the burning reactor roof. No burn blisters and nothing that a tranquilizer wouldn't cure. In real Chernobyl, no one of the service men had the choice to get on a bus with their families and escape but Alexey - no problem, he heroically went back at least three times and did adventurous things right next to the burning reactor. Next to that, a few supporting actors die or get left behind somewhere.
The spotlight is on human suffering for the fatherland and blind heroism. It was very difficult for me to follow the convoluted plots. What happens and why, what is the aim of the actions? Opening a valve, diving into irradiated water to prevent another explosion, that's it. The dozens of miners who actually got the contaminated water under control and prevented another explosion in 1986 are not even mentioned. Alexey did it all.
Towards the end, you hear a single soviet critical statement, covered by "Look, comrades, what our glorious fatherland did for you". - movieburnerentertainment - 23 November 2021
A Watered-Down Version..... Adding Nothing New Or Revelatory
Comparisons between Chernobyl 1986 (aka Chernobyl: Abyss) and HBO's landmark miniseries are inevitable. However, that's like weighing loaded hot fudge sundae against a vanilla cone.
Those who saw Chernobyl - the definitive depiction of the disaster and its aftermath - might recall the episode where several rescue workers volunteer for what's essentially a suicide mission: To venture below the nuclear plant's reactor and open the water valves before the exposed core hits it, which would render most of Russia radioactive.
Chernobyl 1986 (aka Chernobyl: Abyss) is a fictionalized retelling of that mission, which in and of itself ain't a bad idea for a feature film, especially since this one is actually a Russian production. A film about history's worst nuclear disaster, told by those whose own backyard came within a hair's breadth of being a wasteland? That's an interesting prospect.
The movie, however, is dull, laborious and criminally overlong. The entire first act is focused on rescue worker Alexey (Danila Kozlovsky, who also directed) trying to rekindle a relationship with former girlfriend Olga (Oksana Akinshina), who gave birth to their son 10 years earlier. Alexey comes across as a self-absorbed douchebag and we're given no reason to care whether or not Olga takes him back. Unfortunately, he's the main protagonist.
Interest level briefly picks up when - finally! - disaster strikes. The initial Chernobyl explosion and the immediate response by Alexey's team is gripping and intense. Afterwards, however, the narrative keeps dropping the ball by repeatedly returning to Alexey's interactions with Olga. It also turns out his son is mostly just a plot device to goad Alexey into action. He and a team of marginally fleshed-out characters eventually venture below to try and release the water valves...more than once.
Since the outcome of the operation is a foregone conclusion, one would naturally expect to become invested in who lives or dies. However, Alexey's the only character given much background, meaning the rest are little more than fallout fodder. And unlike the miniseries, the film self-consciously steers clear of any incendiary particulars surrounding the disaster. So while the climactic operation is well-staged, it's seldom very involving.
HBO managed to depict this chapter of the Chernobyl saga in a fraction of the time and never relied on manufactured melodrama to pad things out. Chernobyl 1986 tells a watered-down version of the same story, adding nothing new or revelatory - not even interesting characters - which makes its existence is sort-of superfluous. And why settle for a simple vanilla cone when a scrumptious sundae is available? - thespam-11800 - 29 September 2021
B O R I N G
If You suffer from insomnia that movie is for you, it will put you to sleep in less than 5 minutes.
Not to mention all of the overacting, flat story line, historical inaccuracy and everything else... Avoid.
