If the intention was to create a parody on hostage taking movies, the authors succeeded brilliantly. I was first really annoyed at being made fun of, but in the end had a great laugh throughout. I would recommend anybody to see the film in English translation because it gets even funnier. Nothing is real - characters, motivation of their actions, acting, make-up, dialogs, stage setting, proprieties, nothing. Absolutely hilarious!The one problem seems to be the fact that the film has too clear a political agenda and passes some very childish messages: FSB has absolute authority; tycoons are the villains (Pokrovskiy > Berezovskiy), not all Chechens are bad, only manipulated by the villains etc. Soviet-style propagandist cinema in a new era, just of really sub-standard quality.

When watching this kind of movies it is really hard to get what is really going on unless you know the bases of the plot well. In this case one should be really deep into the queers of Russian internal affairs and politics. Some references to the existing people are of course obvious to a fault but others are by far more subtle, e.g. the idea of a Lithuanian (or perhaps Latvian) guy working for that mogul who is clearly Berezovskiy, no doubt in that. There are facts that these are actually mercenaries in Chechnya conflict together with others. So that twist is definitely a plus. The references to the hostages in the theatre in Moscow is again clear but the idea of that Chechen entering the scene and taking over the situation could have seemed faulty though not to me, in the end. The idea of Arabs actually plotting behind the Chechen people is a widely spread one these days. No proofs though, as usual. Some might regard this movie as a propaganda or something of that kind but again they would be simply unfamiliar with the situation. In Russian movie-making today there are hardly any rival to this one. And that is the most important fact. It is a plain movie-making-for-moneymaking sort of thing! People want to see that on screens - as in any action movie of US origin (I will surely include here all the US-sponsored movies of France etc.). And they pay for it with a lot of money (Russian industry standard, of course!).

Lichny Nomer (Service Number) explores a brand new genre for Russian filmmakers: a politically-charged B-action movie. It comes complete with cheesy script, bad dialogues, unidimensional characters, and of course lousy acting.The film draws many parallels to actual events and individuals and is not even trying to hide it. It appears that the goal of the filmmakers (and their masters) is not just to capitalize on the blood of the victims of recent terrorist acts in Russia, but also to brainwash the viewer into the acceptance of the official version of events and the Putin Party Line, if you will. The references to the Evil London Oligarkh, Katar the Terrorist Heaven, The Chechen-Arab Connection, The Terrorist Masters From Overseas, and of course the KGB apartment building bombing conspiracy theory are so obvious that it's not even funny. Unlike it was in in real life, in this movie all government agencies operate with amazing efficiency, all hostages are rescued with minimal casualties, and no terrorists get away. Well, what do you expect from the movie that was actually sponsored by the Russian government? What I did like about this movie: decent directing and editing, good action, lots of military hardware, and amazing action sequences. The scene with the BMP crushing and jumping over police cars in the getaway scene was very nicely done, but the plane landing sequence was really something. Actually, believe it or not, there are no special effects here, no computer animation of any sort. It looks unreal because it is real. The massive IL-76 cargo plane actually performed everything you see on the screen, including landing sideways, knocking down construction hardware with its massive wings (with actual fuel tanks in them), and crashing into a pile of concrete. 2 planes were used for this scene, and both were turned into wreckage because the first take was not convincing enough. My hat is off to the pilot who performed the stunt, a Russian Air Force general.Another nice touch that is a stack smashing attack against the bomb-controlling computer, performed over the satellite link and a Bluetooth connection. I rest my case against Independence Day with its virus uploading scene ;) Verdict: a quite watchable propaganda piece. ** out of *****

"Countdown" - new stunning Russian blockbuster with interesting storyline, amazing stunt performance and great visual effects. It reminds me "Die Hard" with Bruce Willis, but in Russian way. The main theme is very actual for this day: an international terrorism and fight against it, hostages in the circus... and one good guy Alexey Smolin (Makarov) against this international evil. I saw this movie twice and will buy DVD with it, because it's a really good-acting blockbuster! Much better than previous Russian "blockbuster" "Night Watch" with poor scenes and dumb plot with countless holes. Now I believe that Russian filmmakers can do really good blockbuster! Hope to see "Countdown-2" soon!