Ivan Tsachev

Beautifully shot, well-acted, but ideologically exhausting. This film is visually stunning and technically impressive—scenes flow seamlessly with minimal cuts, grounding the story in a way that makes emotional investment easy. The acting is solid across the board, even if I personally can’t stand the accent (joking, sort of). Now, the problem: it’s yet another entry in the “men bad, women flawless”- ( don't get into "she also did bad blah", it's clearly not proportional and it's because only men escalate obviously, women can't do bad things ) -genre that Netflix has been pumping out endlessly ( The most recent for me was that bad dragon movie with eleven from ST ) . The story falls into the same tired trope where women can do no wrong, and when they do, the plot ensures there are zero consequences ( or in this case, that they're still not that bad in comparison with the "bad sex" ). Meanwhile, every male character is either pathetic, dangerous, or both. ( The Cop was cool tho ) This kind of one-sided storytelling isn’t empowering—it’s patronizing. Young boys watching this aren't being shown how to be better; they’re being told they're inherently wrong. That kind of messaging doesn't educate—it alienates. And the result? They seek validation elsewhere, often from the worst places. Like, imagine commenting on the kids watching Tate, but actively pushing them to do so by allienating them from the good club ( because men bad ) I'm not asking for perfection, just balance. Real people—men and women—are complex. Let’s see that reflected onscreen. And when we see it, can we see Netflix producing something where a clearly evil woman does clearly evil things and a clearly good man is clearly good. This is very speculative, it WILL NEVER happen, but is a fantasy I thought I'd share. It's a story we haven't seen in western media for at least 3 decades too, soooo. 1 star, not because it’s badly made, but because it's another step backward in an ongoing, polarizing culture war disguised as empowerment. Enough. This is the reason Eastern media is overpowering Hollywood and the movie industry. Characters aren't real. It doesn't feel real. It feels targeted. The ideological direction is clear. Netflix is in dire need of neutrality check. Hire someone, say... I dunno, some random homeless guy... Go check your concepts. I can't stand seeing a crew that's clearly studied in cinematography do the most boring, rehashed cliché traps just because Netflix would profit from fueling the flames of this media sponsored gender war. Great going guys. You're very righteous. Let's see how many young boys get inspired by this movie.