You know how they say that every writer plays god? Director Nikolay Lebedev, in The Crew, plays a merciless version of it. He throws everything but the kitchen sink at his characters. From lava-spewing volcanoes to mid-air transfers amidst a storm, the lead character, flight trainee Alex McCoy (Danila Kozlovsky), braves experiences so terrifying in the film that any day without a large-scale tragedy would qualify as a happy day for him.
The Crew is a Russian film dubbed in English for our benefit. However, the dubbing is so soulless, so detached. Perhaps the original’s dialogues were more emotive? There’s also a lot of expository dialogue. When veteran pilot Leonard (Vladimir Mashkov) walks into his home, his wife says, “The husband works. The wife works. The son is an idiot.” It isn’t so much conversation, as it is a placard held up to the audience with information about the family.
Until halfway into the film, I wasn’t sure why effort was taken to bring this Russian film into our shores. The answers are all in the second half. You know how we have provided a new lease of life for average disaster films from Hollywood? Well, The Crew is that film; only it’s from a new country, this time. From a series of listless developments, the film, without warning—much like the flight that Leonard and Alex are on—suddenly turns into new territory. En route to another destination, the pilots are given the option of landing at a rocky site called Kanwoo with a volcanic eruption imminent. You aren’t supposed to wonder about the history of this site, its government, volcanologists, the ridiculousness of thrusting such a decision on a flight crew… Director Nikolay would rather that you gaped at the visuals. In the interest of fairness though, some of the visuals do inspire awe. A man jumps out of a burning bus, just as it explodes. A pilot scrambles into another flight mid-air, just as his original flight plummets. A plane flies off the runway, just as the runway explodes. At one point towards the end, after plenty of trauma has been inflicted on the main characters, you wonder if it’s all over finally. And then, the ground staff reveal that the rescued flight is heading into a storm. The audience in the theatre burst out laughing. When there’s so much of it, tragedy becomes comedy.
If The Crew were a more serious film, I’d be tempted to point out that the female lead, Sandra, gets treated as a burden, despite being spoken of as an experienced pilot. Only the men are strong enough to save the day. In one scene, Alex looks at her, and says, “You’re not a pilot. You’re just a woman behind the wheel.” I wasn’t sure what to make of it, but The Crew isn’t a serious film worth sweating over. And in any case, the director punishes him with enough trauma to last a lifetime.
| Film | The Crew |
| Genre | Action |
| Director | Nikolay Lebedev |
| Cast | Danila Kozlovsky, Vladimir Mashkov, Agne Grudyte |
| Rating | 2/5 |