Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

9th Company Blu-ray Movie Review

This Collector's Edition of "9th Company" adds some much-appreciated supplements found on a separate DVD disc.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman September 4, 2010

This isn't basic training, this is war. You don't get bad grades, you get killed.

9th Company is a film of lofty ambitions and admirable goals, though it never quite achieves its desired level of effectiveness as either an anti-war commentary or as memorable War picture that was destined to nestle up alongside the genre's greats. Instead, first-time Director Fyodor Bondarchuk's picture moves along at a nice pace but seems to channel other War pictures rather than building its own identity. Aside from the place and time of the depicted conflict and the faces of the Russian combatants, there's little that distinguishes 9th Company from any number of "good" but not "classic" War pictures. Still, it's hard to not admire what the film wants to be and the way it goes about its business. Even if parts of it seem pulled straight out of better pictures, 9th Company has its heart in the right place, which counts for quite a bit. The film is well worth a watch despite some problems with characterization and structure; it's just not destined to be remembered as the picture it wanted to be and should have been.

Anyone have a jelly doughnut in his footlocker? Oh, right. Apparently, we don't have footlockers!

The year is 1988, and the Soviet Union has for nine years been engaged in a bloody and losing conflict with the Afghani Mujahideen. No power has ever conquered Afghanistan, and it looks as if the mighty Soviet Army will be the latest to fail. At the tail end of the conflict, a group of new recruits are training for combat and life in Afghanistan. Their drill instructor is the battle-hardened Dygalo (Mikhail Porechenkov), a tough but fair man who teaches them not only how to fight, but how to survive, how to become men, how to work as a cohesive unit. Their training is difficult, intense, laborious, and infuriating, but 153 days of hardship has them prepared to enter the conflict as members of the Army's 9th Company operating in the rocky and dusty terrains of Afghanistan. Their mission: survive the ordeal. Their enemy: a hardened band of well-armed rebels fighting for their land, their beliefs, their history, and for one another. As the men face the realities of war, their bond is strengthened and put to the ultimate test in a desperate battle for survival at Height 3234.

Director Fyodor Bondarchuk's debut picture is a relatively strong one, even if it never amounts to much beyond basic genre elements and cliché. At its absolute best, 9th Company delivers a few moments of soulful emotion and well-constructed action scenes, though in a more general sense both come across as trite and cheesy much more often than they do honest and engaging. The picture never quite finds a proper balance and seems more like an early and unfinished cut than it does a well-oiled final product; perhaps it's a case of assigning to it undue comparisons with genre greats like Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, Black Hawk Down, and Saving Private Ryan, but 9th Company simply never achieves anywhere near the same level of emotional resonance through the plights of its characters, which is the key to making a great War picture, even beyond slick and exciting action sequences. The picture lacks the same level of precise character development as its contemporaries, and most of the characters seem more like paper cut-outs who've been assigned some random trait or feature that never seems to mean much to the their actions, decisions, thoughts, and the consequences of the victories and defeats they enjoy and endure throughout the picture. Like everything else in 9th Company, the characters are constructed to an adequate level but not to the point where any of them will be remembered in the same breath as Full Metal Jacket's Private Joker, Platoon's Chris, or Saving Private Ryan's Captain Miller.

Another problem stems from 9th Company's overzealousness in its attempts to supersede its contemporaries. Whether a head shaving scene that's straight out of Full Metal Jacket (though admittedly with a twist) or its attempts to mimic the handheld, overexposed, and ever-so-slightly sped-up visuals of Saving Private Ryan, 9th Company just seems like its trying too hard to be too many things rather than staying the course and focusing on its own story and characters while discovering its own identity and building off of it. It's not a good sign when an original movie feels more like a re-imaging than its own entity, but that's where 9th Company more often than not finds itself. Still, Director Fyodor Bondarchuk manages to accomplish quite a bit with what he has to work with, all despite some pacing issues, extraneous elements, and the absence of better scripted characterization. Though it's nothing new -- it's been doen before and done better -- Bondarchuk does well in shaping the contrast between fresh recruits and a war-torn drill instructor who only longs to get back into the fight, despite a disfigured face and plenty of trigger time in his past. The punch-counter punch back-and-forth between the recruits and their drill instructor yields some hefty emotional substance and frightening psychological tensions even before the bullets begin to fly as the men form a bond through both the pleasures and pains they experience in basic training. It's here -- and in the film's most nondescript segment no less -- that it finds its footing, and it does well enough to set up the picture's violent final act.

Unfortunately, that final act just doesn't amount to much. 9th Company features several solid and extended action scenes at film's end, but none of them play out as particularly memorable. They're filmed, acted, and choreographed to a point where there's no denying their competence, but there's nothing about them that seems all that interesting beyond quenching the basic needs of Action movie audiences. The problems don't stem solely from the way the action is captured, though; it all goes back to the light character development, and the result is an empty, "so what" reaction when one of them dies. When one of the main characters is killed -- signaling the beginning of the film's final conflict -- his death is met more with a shrug rather than shock. The film simply lacks the emotional undercurrents necessary to underscore and heighten the action. As it is, 9th Company just feels like a mid-level Action movie -- one with admittedly good production values -- but without an understanding of just what it takes to mold not just another War movie, but create a masterpiece of heart, soul, and feeling, the elements that do more for a War picture than any action scene ever could and that separate the genre's masterpieces from the leftover wannabes.

9th Company Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

9th Company fights its way onto Blu-ray and wins a steady, good-looking 1080p transfer. Although it can't escape something of a slight digital sheen while playing host to a few minor problems including light aliasing and a few jagged edges -- the transfer sometimes has a hard time rendering the blue and white striped Russian Army undershirts in particular -- 9th Company's Blu-ray release, in general, looks quite good. Detail is often very strong and the highlight of the transfer. Although a few distant shots of rocky terrain and Afghan hillsides are lacking in pristine definition, the transfer reveals plenty of crucial information on sweaty and dirty faces, tattered clothes, and worn weapons. Indeed, texturing is immaculate throughout most of the movie, and close-ups never come up short in pristine clarity and definition. Colors are vibrant and steady, though much of the film takes on an earthy appearance that highlights reds, browns, tans, greens, and blacks. Shadow detail is strong, and flesh tones only waver in the harshest of outdoor elements. Well Go USA's Blu-ray release of 9th Company looks very good, and this transfer is easily the highlight of the disc.

9th Company Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Though its picture quality is up to par, 9th Company's two soundtrack offerings fall well short. Well Go USA's Blu-ray offers two options: a Dolby Digital 2.0 presentation in the film's original Russian language and a fuller Dolby Digital 5.1 mix accompanying the English language dub. Unfortunately, neither option delivers a satisfying listen; the absence of a multi-channel mix for the Russian language option is sure to disappoint, and the lack of a lossless presentation for either mix seems like a missed opportunity. As it is, the English dub offers up a wider soundstage and more potent effects, and while the dubbing is tolerable, it's quite disconcerting to see the lip movements be so far off in the translation. Nevertheless, the 5.1 English mix offers a fair bit of surround information in the way of both discrete and ambient effects; whether helicopters zipping through the soundstage, tanks rumbling from front to back, or rain falling across the soundstage, the track is never wanting for more action across the surround speakers. Bass is present but not nearly as tight and precise as the low end found on superior War picture tracks. Gunfire crackles nicely and bullets zoom through the listening area; the final battle at film's end delivers a hearty, but not quite perfectly engulfing, experience. Music is generally smooth and satisfying, with a pop song heard over one scene in chapter nine delivering a full and invigorating room-filling listen. 9th Comapny's 5.1 mix is adequate; the Russian 2.0 mix isn't bad, either, and even if it lacks a more distinct and spacious sound field, it at least delivers the film's dialogue as it was meant to be heard. With either track, though, listeners will be longing for something better.

9th Company Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This two-disc collector's edition of 9th Company contains the identical Blu-ray disc that's packaged with the single-disc release; included is the film's theatrical promo (1080p, 3:18) and trailer (1080p, 1:45). Disc two is a separate DVD disc that houses the remaining additional content. Making the Movie (480p, 38:53) is a comprehensive Russian language (and English subtitled) extra that begins with a look back at the Soviet Union's extended military engagement in Afghanistan, with emphasis on the famed 9th Company, and continues to take an extended look at the making of 9th Company. Topics examined include the picture's authenticity, the work of first-time Director Fyodor Bondarchuk, the picture's budget and scope, the importance of shooting a picture like 9th Company in chronological order, the actors' physical and military training, filming the "Snow White" scenes, working with military equipment, creating the picture's soundtrack, shooting the extended final action sequence, and the camaraderie formed by the cast during filming. Next is 20 Years Later (480p, 29:54), a Russian language-English subtitled piece that offers an extended look back at the Soviet Union's goals in Afghanistan and the realities of life and battle on the ground, told from the perspective of those who were there. Finally, The Premiere (480p, 8:54) features several individuals sharing their thoughts on the finished product, what the film means to them, and its place in preserving Russian history.

9th Company Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

9th Company desperately wants to be the next great War picture, and one can't help but admire its ambitions and efforts. Unfortunately, the picture neither achieves its lofty goals, but it doesn't sink to the depths of third-class pictures destined to be forgotten to the scrap heap of War movie history, either. Director Fyodor Bondarchuk shows promise, but his film simply cannot escape the tedium of trying to either duplicate or one-up the genre greats. Instead, the picture fumbles about with less-than-ideal character development and is therefore absent the emotional currents needed to excel beyond genre norms, and that's even considering the picture's entertaining but nevertheless generic action scenes. Well Go USA's Blu-ray "collector's edition" release of 9th Company sports a high quality 1080p transfer but is unfortunately lacking better audio options, particularly when it comes to its native language soundtrack. This edition contains several worthwhile bonus features not found on Well Go USA's other, standalone release of 9th Company, and for what amounts to only a slight increase in price, fans are encouraged to pick up this more comprehensive release over its practically bare-bones counterpart. The collector's edition of 9th Company comes recommended to War movie fans.