This is simply an amazing big-budgeted movie! If you are a fan of history, this is a spectacular epic to view. If you are a fan of epic battles, this is a must-see experience, from the heated cannonballs to the man-to-man fighting. This movie was a real treat. American cinema should take notes on this masterpiece – A blend of history and fantasy and they did a great job melding both into a compelling story about a very turbulent time in Russian history.
The czar of Russia has died and a power vacuum has developed. This period in the late 16th and early 17th century has been called “The Time of Troubles.” There are many impostors who claim to the right to rule, but there’s only one heir, the Czarina Kseniya Godunova. She has married a Polish military leader who wants to claim the Russian throne in her name so he can rule all of Russia. As the Poles move in on Moscow in an attempt to install the czarina on the throne, Andrei, a serf with a life-long infatuation of the czarina attempts to save her from her brutal Polish husband. A complicated story wrapped around mysticism and legend climaxes in a bloody battle between the Poles and the Russians for control of the empire.