Major Grom (2017 film)

Major Grom
Official Poster
Directed by	Vladimir Besedin
Produced by	Vladimir Besedin Fyodor Kan Artyom Gabrelyanov
Written by	Artyom Gabrelyanov Vladimir Besedin
Based on	Major Grom by Artyom Gabrelyanov Jevgénij Fyedotov
Starring	Aleksander Gorbatov Ivan Fominov Anton Kuznetsov Ilya Zhinilo Danila Yakushev
Music by	Roman Seliverstov
Cinematography	Arseny Kan
Edited by	Aleksandr Bulygin
Production company	Bubble Studios
Distributed by	Channel One Russia
Release date	February 11, 2017 (2017-02-11) (Berlin Film Festival) February 19, 2017 (2017-02-19) (YouTube)[1][2]
Running time	25 minutes
Country	Russia
Language	Russian

Major Grom (Russian: Майор Гром) is a Russian 2017 short superhero film directed by Vladimir Besedin based on comic character Major Grom.

The plans to make a film was announced on Comic-Con Russia in October 2015, when Bubble Comics announced the creation of its own film division: Bubble Studios. The script was completed on 23 February 2016. The filming process was started in mid-August in Saint Petersburg and continued until 28 August 2016.

The short film had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival on 11 February 2017 as test footage for a full-length film production to be released in 2018. It later became available for general public viewing on 21 February 2017 through Bubble Comics' YouTube channel^[3] and on the site Life.ru, the latter gaining more than 1.7 million views on the first day of the film's release there. On 9 March 2017, it was screened on the Russian television station Channel One.^[2][1] On 21 July 2017, the short film was screened during the San Diego Comic Con and included a Q&A session with its creators — Vladimir Besedin, Artem Gabrelyanov and Roman Kotkov.

The plot of the film about the major of the MVD of St. Petersburg, Igor Grom, trying to stop the robbery of the bank, save the hostages and arrest a gang of three bandits hiding their identity under the masks of characters from the Soviet cartoon Puck! Puck!.^[4]

Plot

Three armed men, dressed in red sports suits and disguised as hockey players villains from the popular Soviet cartoon "Puck! Puck!", break into a fictitious "Rosgarantbank" in St Petersburg to rob it. They intimidate visitors and try to find the manager who must have the keys to the bank safe. Unable to find him, the leader of the gang grabs a little girl and threatens to shoot her if the manager does not come to him in a few seconds. As a result, a man appears from the opposite side of the room, representing as the manager, with the appropriate badge on his chest. The leader sends another member of the gang, nicknamed "The Psycho", with him to the safe. They approach the door, the man looks for the keys and opens it. The bandit first roars in anger, not seeing a mountain of money in front of him, but later finds inside a separate depository for cash savings and gold. In the euphoria from a lot of money, the robber begins feverishly putting everything into a cart. After a while, he is trying to pull up this case and the manager himself, who watched all the action from the side. "Psycho" approaches him and sharply notices that his face does not coincide with the manager's photo on the badge. Being exposed, the man shock the robber.

Nervous because of the long absence of "The Psycho", the "Leader" sends the third member of the gang, "Buster", to see what he is doing. "Buster" finds "Psycho" unconsciousness on the floor in the safe, and tries to bring him to life when a "false manager" appears from the shadows, rendering him harmless. A man comes out of the vault and meets the bank guard, very surprised by what is happening. The man is represent himself as major of the Police Igor Grom, he asks the security guard not to disturb him and wait in a safe place.

The action of the film is re-transferred at the beginning of the robbery, showing Grom trying to withdraw money from the ATM. While the robbers take visitors hostage and search for a manager, Grom calculates possible options for neutralizing the criminal band, but realizes that an open confrontation with armed robbers will end badly either for himself or for some of the hostages. At this time, he notices the real bank manager creeping out of the shelter and decides to pretend to be him. After that, the action returns back to the present time. "The leader" is trying to hide the panic that arises because of the loss of his comrades. Suddenly, a cart with the disarmed "Psycho" and "Buster" comes up to him, then Major Grom comes out. The furious "Leader" starts to shoot from all the weapons that he has in the direction of the major, but the later manages to hide behind the wall in time. Nevertheless, the robber continues to fire on the bare wall until he remains without ammunition. In a panic, he has enough money, which he managed to steal, and tries to hide. Grom meets another guard, like two drops of water similar to the first, and asks them to look after the criminals, and he goes after the "Leader".

While Grom talks to the guard, the "Leader" sits in the car and tells to the driver, another accomplice of the robbery nicknamed "Vodila", to leave the bank as soon as possible, but he starts to waste time. They drive off just when Grom leaves the bank, but they can not go far away - at the intersection the car is knocked down by a garbage truck. The Driver turns out to be badly wounded, and the "Leader" gets off only with a couple of scratches. He climbs out of the car and runs towards the hotel under construction. Major Grom catches up with the villain, and between them begins a fight, at the end of which the contused Grom loses. While Grom comes to, the criminal runs up the stairs to the top of the building. To shorten the path, Grom climbs onto the statue of Poseidon and jumps from it to the third floor. The pursuit continues and every time the hero overtakes the "leader", the late manages to escape. In the end, Grom waits for the robber behind one of the wooden walls and carries it while the "Leader" runs past.

The action is transferred to the news studio, where TV presenter Anna Terebkina tells about the rendered robbers, the capture of which is the merit of Major of the MVD, Igor Grom.

Before the beginning of the credits, a scene is shown showing the Plague Doctor, lighting a match and throwing it to the ground, after which a bright flame flares up.

Cast

Production

The building of the Saint Petersburg Art and Industry Academy, which was used for the Bank building

The role of Igor Grom also offered to actor Grigory Dobrygin. In the beginning, the original version of the approximate timing of the film was 7 minutes, but in the production process it became clear that the film has acquired the script details, and ultimately the timing was up to 25 minutes.

For the fight scenes in the bank a special filming technique was developed at 360 degrees, previously not apply in Russia, nor in the world. The film takes place in the Rosgarantbank brance, a fictional Bank from "Major Grom" comic book.

The entire interior of the bank was built from the ground up: everything has been thought - from the racks and cabinets to ATMs, design letterhead and bank cards. The total amount of money made for the film to fill a bank vault, exceeded $5 million.

The Statue of Poseidon in an abandoned hotel originally was manufactured and installed specifically for the film, it was the height of 5 meters. For shooting scenes with car chase and the accident the producers blocked the whole block in the city center. Alternative route for public traffic has been developed. Especially for the film, the production team rethink the look of the Russian police and developed a new, unique design service form, machinery and equipment.

A prequel comic book called "Major Grom. The Chance" has been published.

Music

The score was written by composer Roman Seliverstov.

To write the music for the film, the composer and the director, Roman Seliverstov and Vladimir Besedin, locked themselves in studio in Staint Petersburg for almost 2 months. All works on the soundtrack for the 25-minute film took 5 months. The orchestra was recorded at Abbey Road Studio One. The composition was the same musicians that worked on the soundtrack for the movies "Lord of the Rings", "Star Wars", "Harry Potter" and many others.

References

External links

• Official Website
• Major Grom on IMDb