On the heels of 'A Good Day to Die Hard', that features a super-cool chase sequence in Moscow, comes the Russian disaster movie Metro, directed by Anton Megerdichev. Here the action shifts underground to the subway, where passenger lives are threatened when a crack develops in the subway tunnel and the river starts flooding it. The unlucky few trapped in the tunnel must rely on their wits and each other to escape.
One bright, cheerful day, the unsuspecting passengers of the underground train find the trains shutting down, threatened by water from the Moskva River leaking into the tunnels. The trains crash and the people make a run for it. But electric rails and water make for an unfortunate combination and only the few passengers that stayed behind in the carriages are spared this grisly end. The motley group that survives trudges through miles and miles of underground railroads trying to find an opening to the surface. Meanwhile tragedy after tragedy strikes the group as well as the rescue teams and both are running out of time and ideas for survival and escape.
The movie doesn't start as abruptly. There is an introduction to the main characters ; a doctor, his daughter and his wife's lover who are (surprise, surprise) all on the same train in the same carriage. The wife is on the brink of divorcing her dull husband for the dashing businessman because he spends too much time saving people's lives and is not making enough money. On this fateful day, she is not on the train and we have to watch her run around Moscow in high heels, wracked with guilt and remorse, looking for her loved ones.
For the younger viewers, there is a sweet love story that blossoms between a young girl and boy as they keep saving each other lives while trying to escape the tunnel. An eccentric hippie woman and an overweight accountant are the other survivors, the former is annoying and the latter doesn't get to do much. The emotional elements introduced don't really do much for the story, but provide a breather from the relentless disasters striking the hapless Muscovites. I watched the movie with a terrible set of subtitles but the slick pace and good performances from the cast ensured that I did not miss too much of the plot - the story is simple enough to follow. The tension never really lets up and even while we know enough to expect a happy ending, there is an ever present undercurrent that suggests the characters are doomed.
This is a complete entertainer. It is very evident that a lot of talent was involved in making this a technically sound, interesting and neatly packaged product and one looks forward to even more entertainers from the land of matryoshka dolls and samovars.
There is a very good chance that even though you thoroughly enjoy the movie, once you step out of the theatre you would be at a loss to recall specific elements of the story. Yet definitely worth a watch even if it makes one nervous about using the Moscow subway.
