Most book-to-movie adaptations positively stink but "Archangel" is the exception to the rule. This adaptation from the Robert Harris book is positively good and the director has stayed faithful to Harris' story.
Daniel Craig shines as Professor "Fluke" Kelso, a British history professor based out of New York, a "specialist in all things Stalin". Trying to resurrect a struggling career, Kelso meets an old man who claims he was present the night in 1953 when Stalin died. The old man leads Kelso to Stalin's secret notebook but is then brutally murdered in his apartment. The notebook leads Kelso, the old man's daughter, and an American reporter O'Brien, to a forest in the northern city of Archangel where secrets from the Soviet past are hidden. The present-day Russian government sends special forces commandos with orders to make sure that the secrets in Archangel stay hidden but the past breaks free in one bloody battle and sets events in motion which ensures that history has a good chance of repeating itself...
An excellent movie. If you loved the book, you'll love this movie. Highly recommended.
Daniel Craig shines as Professor "Fluke" Kelso, a British history professor based out of New York, a "specialist in all things Stalin". Trying to resurrect a struggling career, Kelso meets an old man who claims he was present the night in 1953 when Stalin died. The old man leads Kelso to Stalin's secret notebook but is then brutally murdered in his apartment. The notebook leads Kelso, the old man's daughter, and an American reporter O'Brien, to a forest in the northern city of Archangel where secrets from the Soviet past are hidden. The present-day Russian government sends special forces commandos with orders to make sure that the secrets in Archangel stay hidden but the past breaks free in one bloody battle and sets events in motion which ensures that history has a good chance of repeating itself...
An excellent movie. If you loved the book, you'll love this movie. Highly recommended.