Marva
It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
sonofjames
There are many problems with this movie. With the only real positive being that the soundtrack is pretty fantastic (Most of the time) First off, the movie has no suspense at all even though it's a kidnapping/ransom movie. Problems the heroes are presented with are resolved BY THE VILLAINS. (Not a spoiler: At one point the heroes want something to drink, but since they are Mormon missionaries they cannot drink alcohol. So the main villain GIVES THEM EXACTLY WHAT THEY WANT. That sort of thing happens multiple times in this movie.) The movie also has me not caring about the main two missionaries because their only characterization is that they are nice, loyal Mormon boys. Neither of the characters have any kind of backstory. The only chance either of the heroes have time to talk to each other they don't expand their characters, but rather just talk about praying and their religion. They really just are one dimensional characters. They really do shoe horn in a lot of the Mormon ideas. I know a lot of people might critique these points just based on that it was a true story, but that can be debunked in two ways. The two missionaries who told the story probably twisted it to fit the message they were trying to tell (This happens a lot in LDS churches trust me I used to be a member) second of all if the story you're working with won't translate well to film then maybe you shouldn't make it? One other problem I have with the movie is the fact that it's so predictable. You can tell everything the movie is setting up from the second it starts to happen. Nothing that happens throughout is for no reason and I predicted every single thing that would happen in the movie just from the scenes before hand. I went into this movie completely blind too not even knowing what is was about, however the person I was watching with every time I'd complain about how little thought went into the movie they would try to shut down that point by expressing how it's a true story. For example I'd complain about how stupid the characters were and they'd respond "Well everyone's flawed." Then I'd say. "Especially the screenwriter for this piece of garbage." The acting goes from decent to hilariously bad, luckily none of the main characters are too awful.4/10
ETO_Buff
I first want to dispel a prevalent myth about this film, and all other publicly released films that portray members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members (except "Meet the Mormons"): This film was produced by a privately-owned production company that is owned by a member of the Church. It was not produced or endorsed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. If it was, it would have had a MUCH bigger budget!That being said, there are only two types of reviews on this film - very positive or very negative. Two or three people took the middle ground, but that's it. I enjoyed this film quite a bit, and found it to be very well-made with the limited resources the production company could afford, and I was impressed that a Mormon-cinema film actually went as far away as Kyiv, Ukraine to photograph the outdoor shots.People who watched the film without any prejudice (Mormons and non- Mormons alike) saw a film about hope and forgiveness, and were inspired by it.Those that hate the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints hate the film (shocking!) and saw it just so they could criticize any little pointless detail that they could find. In spite of the variety of their criticism, all of the negative reviewers have one thing in common as far as I can tell - they have never produced a film. They are also the ones that will find this review as not useful.Some reviewers of this film called the plot predictable. Well, considering it's a true story and it was all over international news, it does't take a lot of effort to predict what was going to happen, does it? Maybe the filmmakers could have altered history, and changed the way things really turned out like in "Inglorious Basterds".Other reviewers made the point that the story could have been told in ten minutes. Sometimes a filmmaker likes to give an audience a sense of how time drags in certain desperate situations, like in "Das Boot".Some complaints are that the film is "preachy" or "too religious". Newsflash: It's about two men serving as missionaries for a church, and it's therefore their job to preach! Missionaries do that. On another Web site, some unnamed idiot from IMDb even criticized the Mormon filmmakers for making a film about Mormons, for Mormons, with Mormons in the cast, produced in a city with a 40% Mormon population. Maybe this person would have preferred that a Mormon make a film about Catholics, or Jews, or some other group that he doesn't know anything about.A lot has been said about the actors being a decade or so older than the characters they portray. Personally, I'm getting tired of seeing Corbin Allred in every Mormon-cinema film that's released, but the fact is no production company outside of Utah is going to produce a film that gives a fair and accurate portrayal of Latter-day Saints, or the Church to which they belong. This film was produced by a company that's based in the Salt Lake City area, which believe it or not, is not a hotbed of acting talent, nor an entertainment Mecca. The guys that are cast in the film did an excellent job, and that's probably why they passed the audition. Get over it.And finally, many bring up the fact that the film appears as if it was filmed on a low budget. Surprise! It was! In fact, one genius who's not in the United States decided that the apartment hallway looked like it was in Brooklyn, New York, USA. Actually, that scene, like all of the indoor scenes, was filmed in Draper, Utah.The bottom line is, everyone that's curious about the film should see it. Those who are looking to find issues with it, will find issues, as with anything. Those who are looking for a story that is 95% accurate (according to the people that it's about) and a good example of an independent film, will be glad they saw it.
bkoganbing
A couple of passing Mormon Elders steered me to this film and I have to say it was not a bad choice. Filmed in both Salt Lake City and Kiev, The Saratov Approach is about two Mormon Elders on their mission in the Russian city of Saratov who are kidnapped by a pair of would be criminals and the LDS church itself given a ransom notice.As a tenet of the faith these young men and occasionally women do go on these two year missions to spread the faith. In that time if one is converted by them it's gravy. The meat and potatoes is to spread good will for the Church of Latter Day Saints. So Elders Propst and Tuttle are doing just that in the Russian they've learned in preparation for this assignment.Corbin Allred and MacLain Nelson do a good job in roles they are clearly too old for. Missionaries are usually 18 to 25 and the real Propst and Tuttle are identified as 23 and 20 in an article I read on the case. All the Mormon Elders I've ever encountered were about that age and the most recent two who recommended this film looked barely out of high school. In fact had they gotten two who looked like them to play Propst and Tuttle the film would have been better because the vulnerability would have increased exponentially.Alex Veadov and champion skater Nikita Bogolyubov play the kidnappers. Veadov is a Russian navy veteran and Bogolyubov just a follower in over his head. On certain levels the Elders do bond with the kidnappers, but it's hardly a Patty Hearst situation.The Saratov Approach is a nice film that would have been better with different casting of the Elders. It's also a commercial for the LDS church, but that's to be expected.And this review is dedicated to those passing Mormon Elders Reed and Hamilton both from rural parts of Utah who recommended The Saratov Approach as good material to review.
joany_03
This Movie is Amazing. The actors really portrayed their characters so well. I cannot imagine how it is to be on their shoes when it happened. It would have been really scary. I hope that there would be a Saratov part II. I like how they started the scene at the time of their abduction and then make it into a flashback. How I wish that the flashback scene would have been a bit longer and detailed. I think Alex Veadov who portrayed the villain is amazing. His expression at the end of the film wherein he was about to execute the missionaries was phenomenal. Corbin Allred, did great as well. The confrontation of Alex and Corbin with the gun is amazing act. Specially when Alex asked Corbin what he shares about the people as a missionaries. Its just so interesting to know that there are really people out there who had and has served their missions and experienced such situation and has not turned their backs with their works because they know what they were doing and why they were doing it. I love this movie and how I hope that there would be a Saratov Part II. I'd rather watched these type of films than those films that doesn't have any stories but are popular because of their immoral contents or capturing sound tract but really, what is their message but swear and immoralities. This is worth buying in amazon.
