Moscow Zero (2006)

Whose sick and vacant mind produced this "picture" and what on earth possessed some rather good actors to take part in this project I shall never know. If you do not want to seriously regret wasting 1.5 hours of your time (which feel like eternity), then watch this film. Nothing happens. NOTHING. AT ALL. AT ANY POINT. Watching paint dry is a hundred times more interesting. There is no plot, there is no action, the characters are ridiculous, you just watch strange people running from one cave to another in total darkness and hear some echoes in the background, but even that sounds more interesting than actually watching it. Zero is what this film is. Awful.

I think this film is a bit under-rated(3.4) Well, first the upsides: The plot is quite good. There is a sad and chilling main story behind, that is genuinely impressive. There is a certain atmosphere mainly depending on the space. It is suffocating and has a morbid effect on the viewer. The children's discretion adds up to the dark aura of the film. This is not the kind of film for an average viewer with an expectation to be entertained; you must have some patience to get some taste. I think it is not a typical thriller/horror film with cliché Hollywood scenes. It feels kind of experimental and some credit must be given for that.The downsides are many: this is also not the kind of movie that can satisfy any good viewer (sorry to say). Despite the toil of all the cast and crew, the result is not bright: -There is a great cast but the acting is somehow missed by the camera... -Although I am a huge fan, I am starting to grow an opinion that Val Kilmer doesn't really know how to choose a right project. Not only is he seen only as long as a cameo, his awesomeness is also totally ignored. How and why his group is dwelling there is a boring riddle that I don't want to solve... -Someone must tell Vincent Gallo that despite having a very characteristic face, being expressionless all the time can only be afforded by great and aged actors... -The screenplay is also bad: the dialogues are not integrated, nor able to add up to anything... -Misleading without intention is frequent. A more dedicated director could have made a great film with this story because here, opportunity to boost the mystery is lost while also some explanatory scenes were omitted as well (such as the revolution incidents) -The motive of the children (are they all children?) is also not clear: is it fear or vengeance or protection or punishment??? Also the sadness of the situation could be emphasized someplace. while a simple reflex of grudge must not be an issue here. -Tension and relief is a chemical must for such movies even for a marginal example. Here both the dialogues+acting and the maze shoots are monotonous. -The relationships between the main characters are totally vague and without any depth. - Just a little more effort on the visual effects could have been much useful. And I don't mean expensive CGI, but some some sweat for editing.Last word: This movie is only for freaks like me who love to experiment and review new possibilities in cinema and choose to waste time on it.

Sit in your basement with the light out for an hour and a half. That's about the same as watching this subterranean search for the Devil's door. An American researcher Owen(Vincent Gallo)travels to Moscow and gathers a rescue team to search for his friend Sergei(Rade Serbedzia), an archaeologist who has disappeared in the catacombs beneath Russia's capital city. They will be shocked to discover subterranean dwellers thriving in the dank and dark complex system of caves and tunnels. The searchers will come upon the gatekeeper of Hell, Andrey(Val Kilmer), and will strike a deal to continue their venture; only to succeed in being scared almost witless when realizing they are among walking dead. Also in the cast: Joaquin de Almedia, Oksana Akinshina, Sage Stallone, Joss Ackland and Julio Perillan.

MOSCOW ZERO is a really dark, mystical and supernatural film. The plot is very straight to follow since it's just about a quest to find SERGEI (played by Rade Serbedzija) an old friend of the father OWEN (played by Vincent Gallo) that went to the catacombs of Moscow alone. The entire movie is passed in there. Though the film has a very open ending, which is, by the way, very well connected to the mysterious and mystical ambiance that is always present… What I appreciated the most in the film was precisely this mystical and supernatural ambiance of this story and the way it was shot. It has a great cinematography, creating very dark and claustrophobic scenarios. The soundtrack is also good, because it also has mysterious, dark, melancholic and melodic music, like a ghost story must have! One other detail that I also appreciated was the fact of the demons were characterized only as shadows, as a dark light in the underworld… I found it so much better than the traditional way of characterize demons as little monsters with sharpened teethes, horns and a back tail… I think this film is very well produced, though I agree it's a bit slow sometimes and could have been more suspenseful. However I also think this melancholy present in the plot and the soundtrack fits perfectly in a dark and mystical story like this.The acting is reasonably good, but I only would like to mention the Portuguese actor Joaquim de Almeida, playing YURI character… It was a surprise to me hearing him speaking some lines in Russian, but he's a "box of surprises" anyway… I also would like to say that I think this movie is too much underrated here on IMDb. I Liked this film, especially because of its ambiance as I said before, and I found pretty absurd that a user can say things like this: "There are two shameful reviews in IMDb promoting this movie and they are typically fake, written by users with only one review in this site". Just because he has more than 3000 reviews he thinks he's opinion is better than anyone else's! It's really sad… My final vote to this different but good film is 7/10.