Louise Willenheimer Reviews

A couple of days ago, I saw ‘Ivan Groznyy’ so I was quite eager to see this sequel especially since it also had such a stellar reputation. Even though it was shot just after the 1^st installment, this movie was eventually released more than 10 years later because Stalin apparently hated the damned thing. It would be released only after his death (by then Sergei Eisenstein had long passed away as well). Basically, even though Stalin was positive about Eisenstein’s first movie, he didn’t care for this sequel because its portrayal of Ivan was too negative but, to be honest, I didn’t see much difference with the previous movie. In fact, I have to admit that I was slightly disappointed by the damned thing. It’s not that it was bad though, not at all. Indeed, once again, it was visually quite impressive and Ivan was once again a really interesting character. However, I was expecting more evolution from happened in the previous movie, above all, I thought that Ivan would evolve but, as far as I was concerned, it was all pretty much the same. Indeed, the Tsar had to face the Boyars who were once again complaining about him and plotting to get rid of him but, just like in the previous movie, nothing much happened after all. On the other hand, I have to admit that I really enjoyed how Ivan completely flipped around the plot to assassinate him. It was also really neat to see Eisenstein experimenting with color and one can only imagine what he could have done if he didn’t die fairly young and if he wouldn’t have been crippled by the Soviet regime for most of his career. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t really blow me away, it is still a classic and pretty much a must-see for any decent movie buff.