First thing I want to highlight is terrible acting job on the lead actor's part. He is a boxer-turned-actor, and it clearly shows throughout the whole movie.

Second thing is the directing. It is not sufficiently sharp and precise. The movie pace is not consistent, characters are not polished, love story development is silly.

Now, to the plot. Chechen war in all its complexity is very simplified in this movie. The good guys are perfectly good, and the bad guys are undoubtedly bad. The only exception is the Chechen general who starts to have second thoughts about his role in this war. However his transformation is not detailed and directed as good as it could have been done by a better director. All the dialogs in the movie are designed for 10 year old children or early teenagers.

There is of course some positive things in this movie: good stunt work, use of real weaponry and real Russian soldiers, very decent fight scenes, physically trained lead character, cute lead actress.

Conclusion: 4 out of 10. You will enjoy this movie if you are young and do not know much about Chechen war, Russian Military and Chechen army. Be advised: if you are a young girl, you may develop a crush on the lead character.