The Second Front (2005)
In the midst of World War 2, intelligence services from England, Germany and Russia collided in a fierce fight for the mind of Nicky Raus, a genius German Jewish scientist who's developing a weapon of tremendous power. An American agent, Frank Hossom, enters the game when German agents undertake a daring operation stealing the scientist. Frank has to get the scientist back - dead or alive. His mission is complicated by his developing relationship with Olga Ryabina, Nicky's lover, an actress forced to work for KGB. The love triangle and the international intrigue weave into a deadly net.
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Reviews
Great Film overall
The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
I didn't know about IMDb until I watched this movie and wanted to know more about it. I will try not to be repetitive and focus on some details others may have also been astounded at. When the American and the girl showed up at the plane, somehow he was just hanging around the plane in broad daylight, when the place was crawling with German guards who must have been trained at the same place the guards in the Holy Grail were trained (remember those idiots- "Unless he has to leave". Then she showed up in a car full of Germans dressed as a nurse (she was a B- movie actress in the film). How did we get from the previous scene to this one, did she sleep with one of the idiot guards "so we just stay here until we have to leave". Then Ron Perlman (evil German) tells the nurse he will kill her when the plane lands. Then he says "damn" later when she exits through an open window in the unguarded first floor room in the château. Somehow the American gets the plane's engine to stop and force land on an airfield that just happens to have the three Russian paratroopers arriving at the same time to ambush the Germans with perfectly coordinated timing, impossible mate. Then the American tells the Russian to shoot him in the forehead "you've never killed a man have you?" The Russian was handpicked for this most important mission, he must have killed hundreds to be in an elite to be considered as one of three for the mission. The American had earlier called them "trained killers" It goes on and on, just wanted to add my five cents.
Ron Perlman, your best bet would be to "Alan Smithee" your name in the credits and deny any involvement with this for the rest of your life. This movie was SO INCREDIBLY BAD, it just defies explanation. And it's not "funny bad", like Plan Nine From Outer Space or Santa Claus Conquers The Martians. No. It is "seriously bad", as in "I just found out my grandmother died in a car wreck" bad. The horrendous acting by the "leading" man (and all the actors - sorry, Ron, you weren't convincing at all), the terrible "plot", the imbecilic love story aspect, the unbelievable gaffs in continuity - I could go on. DO NOT PAY MONEY TO SEE THIS. And if some else has rented this and invited you to watch, believe me: You can find a million better things to do with your time. Like, maybe, watching the grass grow, or finding some paint to watch while it dries.
Rented this one (thank God!). Right from the start I could tell I was in for an extremely dull picture. The opening narration must have used the word It about 10 times. They were so close to IT. IT was almost solved. He had the formula needed to solve IT. etc... Then you see a bunch of fat guys dressed up in trench-coats. Nobody cares that the whole set is consisting of spies obviously up to no good. Consistency is lacking in the film as the main character is wounded and later on in the film there isn't a mark on him where he was shot before. The mouth/sounds do not match up 80% of the time. The aircraft used in the film (a Beriev Be-12 Chaika 'Mail') wasn't even developed during the movies time set (1942) it was created in the 1960's (yet they used it during this film set in 1942? Who did research on this pic?) The plot is confusing and extremely poor in construction. Extremely low budget film. One has to wonder why people even bother wasting money for such disgusting wastes of film, money, time and effort (even though this film had about 0 effort expended on it). The acting is poor and the plane shots are positively dreadful. DO NOT BUY! DO NOT RENT!
I actually quite enjoyed this. It's certainly better than many other films of it's genre.Certainly, it wasn't as bad as many films I have seen recently. While the plot was a little sketchy at times the performances were above average. It was a pleasure to see Todd Field in a non directorial role. I would actually recommend it. It was also good to see Ukraine being used as a film location. Ukraine once had a fine studio in Kiev and in the Crimea and it would be nice to see it resurrected.Dimitry Fiks, the film's director, has since gone on to great success in Russia directing their version of Sex in the City. I wouldn't say race out and buy it but I also wouldn't mind watching it again.