Eric S

The pitiful pro-Russian reviews on here miss the actual weakness of the series, which is, otherwise, a fairly decent rendering of the Cold War and not nearly as pro-American as suggested. This weakness relates more to the sins of omission rather than a pro-Western slant. In reality, the treatment of Putin and Russia receives in this Netflix production is entirely fair and accurate in terms of his corruption, repression, and imperialist aims. As for the American representation, the series does a good job of noting the numerous missteps of the American government at each stage, beginning with the portrayal of the 50s as a fear laden time and stoked by a relatively incompetent CIA, which did great damage worldwide and to the brand of the USA. The series also does a good job of not delving into the "Reagan won the Cold War" discussion from either point of view and effectively gets into the nuts and bolts which actually brought down the Soviet controlled communist apparatus in Eastern Europe with its focus on the most important player in this drama, Mikhail Gorbachev. Where the documentary falters lie in a few of its omissions. No real mentions and examinations of the Korean and Vietnam Wars? Passing references to the invasion of Afghanistan? Really? A lot of the bandwidth of the last few episodes spent its energies on the recent Putin/Russia/Ukraine issues to an extent which felt like should have be more widely spread across the 50 years of the Cold War. Still, all in all, a worthwhile documentary series to watch. The ones lamenting the coverage of modern Russia in the series should be more concerned of the accurate portrayal and not the series' failure to present propaganda talking points somehow justifying their invasion of a sovereign nation.

Only one star because I couldn't put anything lower. A poor man's afternoon special with a clunky storyline, an oddly deified main character and a goofy not so cleverly disguised devil trying to intervene with hackneyed moral philosophies. A really terrible movie.