What's Wrong with Bender Begins

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Even the little that the creators did not borrow from foreign projects looks just awful.

On June 24, Russian cinemas began showing the film "Bender: The Beginning" directed by Igor Zaitsev. The picture tells about the life of the famous Ostap Bender before the events that took place in "The Twelve Chairs" and "The Golden Calf". Moreover, this is only the first part of the film series: two more episodes will be released later.

"Bender" was invented by Alexander Tsekalo's production company "Sreda". She was also responsible for the development of the Gogol franchise, which was originally conceived as a series, but then reworked into a full-length trilogy and released at very short intervals. It seems that "Bender" is going to be screened in the same way: the second film "Bender: The Gold of the Empire" will be released on July 29th.

Already from the dynamic trailer, it was clear that the audience was waiting not just for an adventurous comedy (such, for example, were the works of Mark Zakharov and Leonid Gaidai), but a more hooligan production in the spirit of Guy Ritchie. And there is nothing wrong with this way of serving. After all, there are many examples when talented creators carefully or, on the contrary, ironically and daringly approached the old plot and made it modern and relevant.

So, this does not apply to the authors of "Bender": literally everything is bad here.

Unsuccessful central images and too cute Ostap

First, a little about the plot. Soviet Russia, 1919. The time is turbulent: the country is engulfed in civil war. Young actor Osya Zadunaysky lives in the small provincial town of Solnechnomorsk. His mother is determined to emigrate to Paris away from political instability and take her son with her. However, she has to leave alone: the hero manages to incur the wrath of the local authority Mishka Yaponchik.

In addition, fate brings Osya to the swindler Ibrahim Bender, who, as it turns out, is his own father. Together they begin the hunt for the precious wand, and not only bandits, but also the White Guards interfere with them in this.

The novels "Twelve Chairs" and "The Golden Calf" have been filmed several times - both here and abroad. Moreover, each director saw the great strategist in his own way. But Andrei Mironov and Archil Gomiashvili are traditionally considered the best Benders. Both of them combined arrogance with charisma and crazy charm.

The authors of the prequel decided to go in a non-standard way: in their version, Osya is still quite young. He does not yet think about grandiose scams, so the function of a genius swindler went to his father Ibrahim, played by Sergei Bezrukov (by the way, this appointment caused a flurry of criticism from the audience from the very beginning).

In fact, this is a pretty good move, which ideally could show how Ostap's personality was formed. But the problem is that the characters are falling apart. It was as if they forgot to tell Bezrukov that he still plays not Bender, but his father. Debutant Aram Vardevanyan (for him this is the first major role in a movie) is ideally suited externally for the image of a young schemer. But at the same time he portrays an emotional and naive boy. And you involuntarily doubt that it was from this hero that the familiar Ostap grew up, whose name is associated with cold strategy.

Probably, this is the whole idea, and in the following films, under the influence of circumstances, the character of the character will change. But the audience, who will be guided by the poster with Bender in the usual cap with a white top, may feel deceived. After all, the hero is not even dressed like his literary prototype.

Borrowing ideas and inexperienced actors, against which Bezrukov is a genius

I don't want to accuse the creators of outright theft, so let's put it mildly: the influence of foreign projects is felt in Bender. Even the theme music mimics the famous He's a Pirate from Pirates of the Caribbean. It sounds as if several notes were simply rearranged in the original melody. At the same time, Bezrukov tries so hard to be like Jack Sparrow that in some places there is a very strong sense of déjà vu.

By the way, the original composition by Hans Zimmer is strongly associated with dizzying stunts, chases and gorgeous fencing scenes. But nothing even remotely similar to "Bender: The Beginning" can offer the audience. Instead, you will have to watch the sluggish action, which will impress only those who have not seen anything better.

The images of the villain and his gang are no less secondary and seem to have come from "Peaky Blinders". By the way, Mishka Yaponchik is a real historical person, and a separate series was even shot about him at one time. In "Bender" they tried to add depth to the hero and added a difficult relationship with his sadistic father to the plot. But the authors were too lazy or simply could not reveal this topic properly.

It is also impossible to get into the problems of the characters because the younger generation of actors plays badly. Against their background, Bezrukov looks good and looks like almost the only bright spot in the film, if only due to the fact that he amusingly imitates different accents and constantly changes clothes.

In general, there is a feeling that Sergei, given his experience, was given the largest space for improvisation. Most likely, even the phrase that his character periodically repeats ("Yoperny theater!") Was invented by the artist himself. He often puts similar sayings in the lips of his heroes. So, for example, it was in the TV series "Plot", where Bezrukov's character now and then used in his speech the euphemism-expletive "Japanese policeman".

Bad taste and vulgarity in every frame

The main problem of the film is not borrowing other people's ideas, or even that the actors play poorly. What he really amazes with is the lack of good taste. Moreover, this is manifested literally in everything. Even the stylization for the early 1920s came out unconvincing for the authors, starting with the terrible scenery and ending with the costumes of that time. The characters look like they are dressed up for a themed party at best.

Of course, someone will say that the point here is not in historical accuracy, but to entertain the audience. And he will give as an example the series "Bridgertons", where the realities of the era were specially distorted. The only difference is that the efforts of costume designers and designers are completely invisible in "Bender". Only the desire to imitate the setting, which the authors do not understand.

Bad taste can be seen in the rest: for example, in the frame every now and then people die in a rather cruel way. But that doesn't stop the central characters from joking or kissing. Again, the creators of the same "Deadpool" on the shoulder to combine romance, humor and extreme cruelty. But those who filmed the prequel lack the talent for that.

The female characters in Bender: The Beginning are stripped for no reason. At some point, a terribly embarrassing scene will begin in which Osya loses her innocence with a beautiful naked stranger. And this adds absolutely nothing to the image of the hero. And it’s somehow embarrassing to think that on the screen the same beloved Bender who was looking for Madame Petukhova's diamonds and wore lacquer boots gets pleasure from oral sex.

By the way, about the references to the original. There are quite a few of them in the film, from individual catchphrases to whole scenes. Thus, in The Twelve Chairs, Ostap convinced the naive inhabitants of the village of Vasyuki of the reality of an international chess tournament. And in the prequel there will be almost the same episode, but with the participation of the hero Bezrukov.

And the main villain was armed with a straight razor - just such Kisa Vorobyaninov stabbed Ostap Bender to death. All this is cute and at times clever, but it cannot compensate for all the flaws of the picture.

It's hard to even imagine who can recommend Bender: The Beginning. It will most likely be of interest only to those who make trash reviews of bad movies, and their regular viewers. Here the acting, dialogues and even costumes pumped up. In addition, many details (in particular, visuals and music) were clearly copied from foreign projects. The film will only upset the fans of Ilf and Petrov, and leave the fans of high-quality cinema in complete bewilderment.