Tetris

Tetris_360P

source: Tetris

source: Tetris

If you're looking to watch a superficial depiction of how bad the Soviet Union was paired with a messy depiction of international contract negotiations then this movie is a top choice. If you were hoping for a good, consistent storry, or well developed characters with believable acting, you may want to look elsewhere. I have no idea how they managed to stretch this movie for over two hours without giving any character any depth. Tetris is basically a bunch of comic book characters running around in russia, yelling rudely at state officials and being surprised about state surveillance. Oh well.

The bad: NOT thrilling. NOR is it really funny. This rather ridiculous story sounds rather funny, but the execution of it unfortunately isnt. Who or what is to blame? I blame the direction and the actors. Both are lacking spark and punch. It's not a terrible movie, but halfway through it, I noticed I began to get bored. This movie never really surprises, never really thrills, never really made me laugh. Not any good then? The story in itself is rather creative and interesting. But because of a lack in a solid direction and because of a lack of charismatic actors this story never lifts off. Kinda bland. Lacking in good jokes. Lacking in real thrill.

Is it time for some American emotions? I might be one of the four people on the planet who didn't like to play Tetris. I only watch this movie because I really enjoy the actor who starred in it. I was frankly shocked that I enjoyed it as much as I did It was exciting, comical at times, and heartwarming in the end. I know very little about international business. I know we have less about programming to make video games. What I do know is that the Soviet union was pretty darn evil for centuries, I have no doubt that the KGB agents were portrayed realistically. This is another one in a long line of movies that I have watched on Apple TV and, with very few exceptions, I have like each and everyone of them.

It might be a good movie, except if you've already watched the 2004 BBC Documentary with THE ACTUAL PEOPLE. So much of the movie is made up. It's criminally re-written history. Google for BBC Tetris Documentary. It's called "Tetris: From Russia with Love". Watch it. I like Taron Egerton, but the actual Henk Rogers is far more charismatic than the character played here. None of the KGB stuff happened. Zero of it. There were no threats to Hank or his family, no threats to Alexey and his. It's all made up out of whole cloth. They show Robert Stein as under the thumb of the Maxwells but that's certainly not what's shown by the actual Robert Stein Car chases? Pay offs? All made up. Maybe it would be good movie if it wasn't trying to claim it's based on true story because it's liably mis-representing the actual store.

...scroll down here at IMDBs Tetris page and read Did You Know? There you will find the two REAL LIFE main people complained about the authenticity, and embellishments. Hopefully you'll do this before embarrassing mankind by assuming everything you'll see is legit. As many have already assumed. It's been "Joy'd." Joy was a movie about the creator of the Miracle Mop, and is 98% totally made up stuff. In real life, the woman was an instant success, so they felt they needed to spice up her life into a 3 ring circus. Same thing here! It's like when a new Mexican restaurant opens in your area and everybody feels obligated to say how authentic it is, even if it's terrible. This movie isn't terrible, it's just not factual at all.

I'm sorry to realize that this movie is mainly a propaganda and secondly a film. Its a pity because it looks good. Poor old soviets they had no food, everything there was gray and sad and they were followed in every place by the state, in contradiction with rich free Americans that make business and prosper. I can't understand why the "creative freedoms" of such movies are always having a political stigma against USSR even after 30+ years of its demise. The movie perspective is as naïve as the one in Rocky 4 and Rambo 3. Rocky and Rambo at least had the excuse that they were much closer to the cold war era. As it seems, the cold war era never ended for Hollywood (queens gambit which it not demonizing USSR is just an exception) ... Anyway, I know my opinion is unpopular but someone had to say it."

Of course the move isn't a 100% true story. Who cares. It's a blast. To all of the haters who claim the film is anti-Soviet propaganda, they obviously never spent a minute in a communist country during the Cold War. My wife's family escaped from Romania during the height of the Cold War, and everything in this film portraying how Communist counties were during the Col War is accurate. There were long lines just to get a pound of rice. Very few families got meat or fish. The KGB away everywhere and spied on everyone. Neighbors ratted out neighbors. Corruption was rampant. The architecture was cold, dark, and bleak. Of course this movie was a comedy so they makes everything to an extreme, but all in all it was a very accurate portrayal of the U. S. S. R during the Cold War.