 |  | A great adaptation of the book! |  |
I read the book Gorky Park last year and was blown away. Definitely one of the best novels I've ever read. I remembered from when I was a kid there being a movie version of the book that was pretty popular so I checked it out. If you read the book first don't expect the movie to be perfectly in-line with the book. For the sake of making the story more digestible to a movie audience a lot is streamlined, but the integral parts are left pretty well intact. The cast is PERFECT in this movie! William Hurt as Arkady Renko is excellent. Brian Dennehy as tough-as-nails NYPD Detective Kirwill and Lee Marvin as the evil, cunning American Mr. Osborne both fit the book descriptions of the characters. British comedian/actor Alexei Sayle as the sleezy black-marketeer/KGB informant Golodkin was awesome! Fast-pasted action and chilling suspense set in the stunning snow-covered Moscow cityscape(actually Sweden...) in the midst of the Cold War. An excellent movie overall. Check out the book too.
May 30, 2008 | | Not as Good As I Remembered It to Be! | |
First watched this as a teen, and I got this as I was nostalgic for the past. Up to that point, there hadn't been much in the vein of Russian thrillers, and Gorky Park was a departure from the usual Cold War James Bond stereotypical Russian treatment. But alas, revisiting Gorky Park 25 years later reveals a movie that has dated drastically. A handsome and refined William Hurt (presumably chosen for his European looks and air) - feels a little stilted in his performance, along with the rest of the cast. I have to agree that there doesn't seem to be much tension in the pacing or story. What seemed cryptic and exotic back then in the theater feel a little underwhelming at times here. And having been to Moscow, the real place feels a lot more brutal than what this movie portrays. The little Ladas that the cops drive make Moscow feel very much like a small town.
Unfortunately as well, we have shows like CSI to thank for increasing the speed of our edits exponentially, which make shows like Gorky Park feel dreadfully 80s (along with the synth soundtrack). Lee Marvin is good as always, but the air of deliberation make Gorky Park like a plane about to take off - but never does.
My only worry now is watching Kiss of the Spider Woman again and wondering if William Hurt's Oscar performance will hold up...but it should!
May 13, 2008another great movie which shows russia life and living conditions as they are....been there done that.........james
February 23, 2008| | | Twisty and complex Moscow mystery | |
When 3 bodies are discovered in Gorky Park,Moscow ,minus faces ,teeth and fingers the case is assigned to Inspector Arkady Renko(William Hurt).The trail leads to a Moscow based US businessman a fur trader named Jack Osborne (Lee Marvin).Osborne is a well connected man knowing ,and enjoying a great deal of influence with, key people in political and police circles to the extent that Renko finds his investigataion being hampered at every turn.Are the deaths related to Osborne's somewhat shady business dealings ? Or might there be a link to espionage activity ?
Also caught up in the matter is a dissident, Irena ( Joanna Pacula) , a friend of one of the victims ,and an American lawman (Brian Dennehy)whose brother was among those killed
The plot is twisty and at times confusing and the problem lies with the Dennis Potter screenplay which never satisfactorily resolves the problems of adapting a complex novel to the screen .The movie thus plods when it should run and the climax lacks impact .
The acting is excellent however .Marvin is his usual reliable self while he is matched stride for stride by Dennehy and Hurt .The location shooting -in Helsinki as the Soviets refused permission to shoot in Moscow-is evocative and suitably wintery
This is too long, too convoluted and lacking real excitement but as long as you dont expect a masterpiece it is reasonably satisfying entertaainment that benefits from its relatively unusual setting -in the heart of a workaday Soviet Union
December 31, 2007I rate this as one of the best thrillers ever filmed, a marvelous evocation of the USSR. The story itself is well-known and, although not entirely forgettable, not what made this such a great film. Here one finds, in addition to its compelling plot, a loving depiction of Russia. Were it not "just" an entertainment, the film would have been Oscar material like the esteemed "Doctor Zhivago." William Hurt does his best work here. Something about his boyish anti-sexuality works here, as he plays the "good" communist, a loyal subject of a corrupt system. Lee Marvin is superb, turning in one of the best performances of the decade as a decadently evil American capitalist and murderer. Together they offer a mismatch and conflict equal to Jack Nicholson's famous conflict with John Huston in the incomparable "Chinatown." The author succeeded beyond reason in capturing the seediness of Communism on its last legs; the movie does the book one better, showing in stunning photography the gorgeous Russian winter, the fabulous comforts of communism's insiders and the despair and desperation of those not invited to the party. I've seen the film numerous times. It holds up, even after the fall of the grand hoax. Evil, we learn, is a universal that will never seem dated.
September 2, 2007More reviews at Amazon.com ...
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