The Return of the Russians

I've been watching a lot of media about the Russians lately, all of it pretty grim and unhappy. There's Francis Lawrence's "Red Sparrow," a thriller starring Jennifer Lawrence as a Bolshoi ballerina who is manipulated into becoming a sexy spy under the control of corrupt government officials. Armando Iannucci's "The Death of Stalin" gives us a nihilistic picture of sneaky power grabs and petty rivalries directing the course of Soviet history. Then there's the final season of "The Americans," presenting a more nuanced picture of Russia in the '80s, struggling with modernization and opening up. I still have a few episodes to go, but the Russian characters have all remained pretty miserable throughout the series, and there's clearly no happy ending waiting for any of them.

After being mostly phased out by the end of the Cold War, Russian baddies are back in vogue thanks to recent events, and I'm ever so glad. After the events of 9/11, we had years of swarthy Middle Eastern terrorist villains, occasionally played by actors who were not remotely Middle Eastern, and portrayed in consistently problematic if not outright racist ways. The Russians, though, are classic cinematic nogoodniks who have been synonymous with nefarious plots for so long that filmmakers don't have to worry so much about representation issues or giving the other side a fair shake. Put a couple of stone-faced Northern European actors in cold weather clothing, have them brush up on their Slavic and Baltic accents, and you're all set. They are a remarkably guilt-free choice of antagonist, especially for action films.

For me, the Russians bring back happy memories of Sean Connery aboard a stealth submarine, Famke Janssen asphyxiating people with her thighs, and Dolph Lundgren menacing his opponents in the boxing ring. It was a simpler time, when you could get away with broad stereotypes of America's major rivals. And like the Nazis, the Soviets are so wonderfully cinematic, easily caricatured into over-the-top villains and antiheroes. One of the only notable things about that last "Indiana Jones" movie was its stern Soviet villainess Irina Spalko, played by Cate Blanchett. And speaking of Dolph Lundgren, the upcoming "Creed" sequel is promising to deliver quite a few wallops of nostalgia as Donnie goes up against Drago Jr. If the movie turns out to be remotely as ridiculous as "Rocky IV," I will be overjoyed.

Of course, the evil Communist has become a pretty lazy stock character over the years, one that could do with some improvements and updates. The Boris and Natasha accents, the bulky overcoats, and the deadpan stoicism, that are somehow still being trotted out, feel positively prehistoric in the current era of sexy Putin memes, Adidas track suits, and an endless array of dashcam disasters. Speaking of the dashcam videos, those got their own documentary by Dmitrii Kalashnikov called "The Road Movie" that premiered earlier this year. I've heard very good things. And I expect that the inevitable dramatizations of the recent Russiagate scandals involving Russian troll farms, pop stars, and shady industrialists should help speed things up in that regard. The material is so juicy, Hollywood's going to be mining this for years, if not decades.

And who knows? Maybe the increased attention on Russia will actually help generate some positive interest too. The Russians may be guilt-free antagonists, but that doesn't mean they should be. I appreciate that Guillermo Del Toro's "The Shape of Water" made its Russian spy character one of the good guys, as part of the film's subversion of classic monster movie tropes. I loved that the Brian Cox's similar character in 2010's "RED" got the girl in the end. Russian filmmakers like Alexander Sokurov and Andrey Zvyagintsev have been doing fantastic work for years, but are mostly unknown to those outside of art house circles. Somebody has got to make that Putin biopic eventually, preferably with Matthias Schoenaerts as the lead. Seriously, did you see him in "Red Sparrow"?

I've been hoping that Marvel would take the plunge and make Black Widow movie for a while now, and it looks like it may finally happen in the near future. But even if that never pans out, there's going to be plenty of Russian themed media at the cineplexes for a long while to come.

And I'll have my full write-up on the end of "The Americans" up soon, with a Top Ten list to follow.

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