A Russian fighting film with virtually nothing in the way of plot, character, acting or depth to recommend it. Instead it's just one repetitive fight scene after another with a bunch of big bald guys slugging it out over and over again. No real heroes or villains here, just one uber-macho guy battling a like-minded opponent for final supremacy. It's exhausting, but unlike THE RAID films, you simply don't care.

Armchair action movie aficionados with an appetite for adrenaline-driven violence should crave freshman director Denis Kryuchkov's above average but predictable thriller "Russian Raid," about an avenging ex-Spetsnaz soldier gone rogue. Our rugged, resourceful hero conducts the hostile takeover of a Soviet-era missile factory which had been converted into a vodka brewery. Initially, everything works out splendidly for our heroes in this gritty, bullet-riddled actioneer. Happily, they carry out their objective in no time and disarm all the security guards without loss of life. They discover much to their chagrin; however, they have blundered into something far more byzantine than they had imagined. Kryuchkov and writers Robert Orr of "Underworld: Rise of the Lycans" and Olga Loyanich, use a cavernous, multi-storied factory as a gladiatorial arena for this high body count grudge match. Many characters amount to colorful stereotypes, and the maniacal villain gets everything he deserves before fadeout. Some may criticize these knuckle-slamming shenanigans as sloppy and second-rate, but Kryuchkov stages some thumping close-quarter combat sequences. These impromptu brawls seem even more vicious and realistic because both adversaries appear to be improvising blows. Anybody who likes to shadow box with cinematic bouts will work up a sweat watching these Russian MMA fighters batter each other with feet, fists, guns, knives, swords, and automatic weapons. The final showdown between our sympathetic hero and his vile nemesis may leave you as emotionally and physically drained, too.

Initially, "Russian Raid" starts out like a Tom Berenger "Sniper" movie. Our camo-clad protagonist Nikita (Ivan Kotik of "Outcast"),lies belly down, blending into the foliage. Cradling an exotic sniper's rifle, he peers into its scope at a rendezvous between their new leader, the Ghost Commander (burly Alexandr Krasovskiy),and several uniformed black soldiers brandishing automatic weapons. Nikita recognizes the Ghost Commander as none other than the homicidal dastard who took him hostage as a child and then shot his father in cold blood! Meantime, Nikita's spotter (Dmitry Krivochurov) is alarmed at the sight of his comrade's finger taking up the slack on the trigger. Afraid Nikita might try to shoot the Ghost Commander, the spotter jogs Nikita's aim. When the bullet emerges from the rifle barrel, director Denis Kryuchkov zooms in on this deadly flying projectile that resembles a humongous missile in close-up, and we watch as it streaks toward the Ghost Commander. Miraculously, since the spotter jarred Nikita's aim, the slug barely grazes his target. Nevertheless, pandemonium erupts, and the encounter flares up into an incendiary firefight. Nikita dispatches several enemy soldiers with spectacular shots as he racks up one kill after another without a trace of emotion. Nikita's own people punish his treachery. They lob mortar shells in a walking barrage at Nikita and his spotter, and our heroes take evasive action. Sadly, shrapnel kills the spotter, while Nikita goes into hiding as a fugitive. Eventually, an arrogant Russian businessman, Reshala (Ilya Antonenko),recruits Nikita to pacify all security personnel at the factory without firing a shot. Reshala plans to broker a deal with the stockholders, but Kryuchkov and his scribes never adequately explain the details about this hostile takeover.

Basically, the best action thrillers put their heroes through the wringer. Now, better than average though it is, "Russian Raid" isn't the cream of the crop, because it relies heavily on formula. Instead of hiring experts for Nikita, Reshala has recruited a motley crew of obnoxious young street hooligans who dress in a variety of jogging outfits. These ruffians behave like amateurs and regard Nikita's orders with nothing but contempt. Although he saves them from themselves, Nikita finds himself pitted against elements of the Russian mafia once they have neutralized all of the factory guards. One factory supervisor arms himself with a wicked samurai sword and leads his brawny stockholders with medieval weapons in an effort to repulse Nikita and his rabble. Predictably, Nikita quashes this rebellion in no time. Meantime, a tall, willowy blond in a vanilla white jacket and pants suit, Eva (Soniya Ozerova),has been snooping around the factory. Once a policewoman, she has uncovered hidden crates of contraband assault rifles. Kryuchkov and his writers never satisfactorily account for her presence. She isn't a factory employee, and Reshala didn't hire her. Eventually, the track suit hooligans' leader (Vladimir Mineev) takes her hostage, but Nikita releases her from their custody. Weary of Nikita's orders, the hooligans gang up on him. Nevertheless, the indestructible Nikita recovers when the chief stockholder disperses the hooligans with his pump action shotgun. Up until this latest fracas, Reshala had managed to contain this battle. Nobody had fired shots in reprisal. However, informants have leaked word of the incident to the reluctant authorities who had cooperated with Reshala by not launching a counterattack. No sooner have these uniformed officers shown up at the factory than a goon squad of Russian mafia headed by the Ghost Commander cruise up. These dastards come armed for an Armageddon.

Although he attempts to top Welsh director Gareth Evans' "The Raid" (2011) and "The Raid 2" (2014),two legendary Indonesian martial arts exercises in murder and mayhem, Kryuchkov lacks Evans' nimble spontaneity and plethora of violence. Nevertheless, "Russian Raid" bristles with enough kinetic energy to maintain your attention during its' unrated 103-minutes. Nobody gives a bad performance, and some stunts defy gravity. Alexandr Krasovskiy epitomizes pugnacity as the chief villain. When he isn't using his impressive MMA skills, Nikita plays commando with the henchmen in an explosive shootout in the factory. He is a carbon copy of John Wick in his ability to improvise in any predicament. Before he took this task, Nikita convinced one of his closest friends to board his pet turtle. The most annoying thing about "Russian Raid" is its subtitles. Everybody converses in Russian with only English subtitles, and the subtitles can be a challenging distraction. My advice is forego the subtitles. "Russian Raid" qualifies as a volatile exercise in anarchy, and the action is far more engrossing than the dialogue.

The movie started out rather well within a military context and having not read what it was going to be I had thought after this we were going to be pleased with another excellent Russian war film but no, it quickly merged into a budget Russian version of "The Raid".

I have to admit I do speak a bit of Russian but even I was perplexed by what was going on; I guess you have to be conversant with Russian life itself and how everything involves back handers and illegal dealings as the situation the story revolves around will just make a westerners brain go round in circles. Even so it was quite a demonstration of Russian martial arts with some really rather excellent spins, kicks , swings and general yeeeeehaaaaaa but done in a style of brutality only the Russians could achieve; the violence does actually look real unlike 90% of movies these days and to be honest some of it probably was as the Russians do love their fist fighting with health and safety an afterthought!

Having said that although the action is fun, there is literally zero story, no real acting ability just a lot of shouting, posturing "Gopniks" in the usual trackies or shell suits bopping everyone with fists of fury, boots of steel, elbows of pride as well as the odd axe, samovar and anything else that comes to hand ending in a rather impressive shootout with machine guns, pistols, grenades; even the incredibly hot leading lady gets blasting with her Kalashnikov - It was a rather fun and completely mad storyline which does put it "out there"!

Overall it is not going to win any Oscars but I did enjoy the fight sequences; no one is spared the violence and the leading guy does actually look like the spitting image of Thomas Kretschmann I kid you not...and he does save the very hot leading lady in the end, a true Russian hero, aren't they all!

It is pure unadulterated crash , bang , wallop with nothing more to recommend it but for some strange reason I did enjoy it - Maybe its a guy thing but I am giving it an above average 6/10.