White Tiger (2012)

the leading man is my tpye

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

This is a uniquely different war film without constant battle scenes and war gore. In fact, this is more of a mystery, supernatural drama film, and very interesting, too! I found the film's color very clear and realistic, and the acting very natural - especially Aleksey Vertkov as Naydenov. Naydenov himself is as mysterious as the White Tiger and added another dimension to the mystery. The village battle scene when he finally came face to face with the White Tiger was awesome! It was refreshing to see the fight scenes without overbearing music. Spoiler: the film does leave you hanging, though, having to decide for yourself what happened to the White Tiger and Naydenov, and the meaning of Hitler at the end, and how to interpret and connect the loose ends.

A metaphysical Russian war movie set on the Eastern Front. While featuring realistic battle and hospital scenes and lots of military hardware, it is actually a "war fantasy" because of the nature of the two antagonists: Ivan Naydenov, an amnesiac Russian tank crewman who is miraculously healed of his injuries and claims to have a mystical affinity with tanks, and the mysterious ghostly White Tiger that is wrecking havoc on the Eastern Front and that he is tasked with destroying. A third protagonist is Naydenov's commanding officer, Major Fedotov, who serves as the "everyman" giving the human perspective on the drama.Very different to the style-over-substance approach of Western and especially American war movies; instead of endless incompetent Nazi soldiers blown away down by our heroic protagonists (*cough* Fury *cough*), this is a meditation on the nature of good and evil, and on the Russian people's resistance to Hitler's Fascism (of course they had their own totalitarianism to oppress them but that is ignored).Not the easiest movie to understand, and slow towards the end, but one that really gets you thinking about important themes.

As a big fan of Russian made war movies and without a synopsis, I initially thought I was watching another fantastic historical depiction of the Great Patriotic War. The opening scene with its very realistic portrayal of post battle wreckage was intense. I became concerned when the subject turned a bit mystical with the strange miraculously healed tank crewman and the invincible and mysterious super Tiger Tank.I was tempted to bail out but watched on and am glad I did. As with most Russian films the actors look like normal people not models out of the latest fashion magazines. The acting and cinematography in many of these films in my opinion exceeds that of Hollywood.The battle sequences, while few and far between look and feel real(would love to see this in a theater). The mystery Tiger Tank did not as I feared look fake or out of place vs the T34s and it could as the trivia suggests been a prototype with extra armor. The movie does get a little deep in symbolism and I think to an extent it is left to the viewer to form their own opinions of what the White Tiger tank and protagonist represent and who it is that Hitler is speaking with at the end.The depiction of Germany's surrender at the end is done to perfection and Hitler's monologue is intense. So I highly recommend this film, even to those who like myself prefer plots from a historical perspective.

As previous commentators have stated, this is an 'unusual' war movie. Despite having a quite good and accurate depiction of fighting on the Eastern Front, including depictions of lend-lease armour at the start of the film, it's the allegorical message that's the main point of the film.In short, the battle between the White Tiger and the resurrected Russian tanker is an allegory of Russia's centuries old battle with invaders from the West (be they Teutonic knights, Napoleon or Hitler in this case).The message of the director is that WWII was just another episode in this long struggle and that the White Tiger (western militarism) hasn't been destroyed in 1945, but is waiting dormant for the next episode....and the immortal Russian tanker will once again be there to confront the 'Tiger' again.The film was made in 2012. Considering current events it's proved to be quite prophetic