the first statement needn't be proved if you've watched it. Indeed the story leaps back and forward, some details leak out too soon, but I liked the movie among other reasons because of good actors such like Vladimir Mashkov and Maria Mironova, who did here their best. the second is clear when you're Russian and read other comments like 'no subtitles and bla'. most not-American movies are not dubbed, so what? -> learn other languages if you're interested in other cultures! just the fact that this title was made in times when people like Khodorkovsky were arrested and that this movie was never broadcasted on the TV-channel which itself co-produced the film, are enough to say it's worth seeing.

"Tycoon" may not succeed as a political film or piece of social criticism, but I don't think it was meant be those things. "Tycoon" was obviously meant to be first and foremost an interesting, entertaining crime drama, and on this count I think it succeeds marvelously. It has timeless themes: loyalty, betrayal, greed, envy, power, love, lust. To me the fact that it is based on the 1990's Russian oligarchs is almost secondary. It's more like a good war movie - the time and place is really just a setting, a backdrop used to tell a good story. The script is beautifully structured, the actors all give terrific performances, the direction is understated and confident. Unexpected things happen, scenes jump back and forth through time, and the pacing is excellent. Even though it's got the "a gangster's life" story arc (similar to The Godfather, Casino and the hugely overrated Scarface) in which the risks are taken, trusts made and broken, beautiful women seduced, liquor poured, bullets sprayed, etc., from scene to scene you aren't quite sure exactly who will do what. It holds your interest from beginning to end. No doubt there is a great documentary to be made about the rise and fall of the actual oligarchs or "New Russians", one which could tie together with great detail the entire true story. But "Tycoon" isn't that film, and I think it's arguable that it's better because if it.

A good movie about modern Russia. Two major problems, imho :1) The desire of shooting "nice pictures" is often too invasive in the movie, it makes all the story too heavy, too dramatic2) The financial aspect, the "how they succedd in conning people (and state)" is too quickly described. I'd rather had got more explanations.But, despite its duration (more than 2 hours), this movie stays very interesting.

This is a very good and realistic movie showing the birth of Russian capitalism, the people who were behind it, the Russian mafia in its true form, and the man who made a fortune in a dawn of Russian capitalism. The movie is based on the novel "Bolshaya Paika" (The Big Slice) by Yuly Dubov about Boris Berezovsky, the true oligarch of Russia. This is the man whom Vladimir Mashkov brilliantly portrays in the charachter of Platon. 9/10