Tycoon: A New Russian
New Yorker Films | Release Date: June 13, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
49
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
6
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
This is a meaty, well-crafted thriller that absorbs and disturbs you from first frame to last. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
With more than a passing nod to the Hollywood mob movie, Pavel Lounguine ("Luna Park") crafts this superb post-Soviet "Godfather" movie loosely based on the exploits of bad boy billionaire Boris Berezovsky. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Lounguine tells the story with more discipline than you'll find in his earlier films, painting a crowded portrait of a society moving toward a future it can neither confidently predict nor look forward to with anything but nervous anticipation. Read full review
70
VarietyDeborah Young
A savvy, fast-paced political thriller dealing with the meteoric rise and fall of a new Russian businessman. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
The flashback structure drains the story of momentum, but Mashkov and Uchaineshvili portray the reptilian glamour of cultured thugs with frightening intensity. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
In the end Tycoon above all evokes a melancholy awareness of the seemingly eternal exploitation and impoverishment of the Russian people. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeDamon Smith
Despite its ambitious depiction of post-Soviet economic woes, Tycoon is an uneven political thriller that suffers mostly from a highly convoluted story line. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Like "The Godfather," it shows him (Makovski) as a crook with certain standards, surrounded by rats with none. Read full review
60
The New York TimesStephen Holden
For all its energy and fine acting, Tycoon has a frustrating lack of narrative coherence. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
While the players are circling and silently sizing each other up, the audience may find itself straining to look around them, to see the history they're blocking. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Commendable as pop history but fairly opaque as drama. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen Johnson
Although Lounguine has a lot to say about Russia's struggle in its transition to global capitalism, his film is strangely uninvolving, lacking dramatic sweep. Read full review
40
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
We become so distracted by the jigsaw effect that soon we are more concerned with the assemblage itself than with what it is about. Read full review
40
L.A. WeeklyScott Foundas
Lounguine’s biopic is chilly and convoluted, too eventful to be boring, but never taking the time to immerse us emotionally in Makovski's world. Read full review
25
New York PostV.A. Musetto
Wait for the video, then fast-forward through every scene except the ones featuring Maria Mironova as a cheating wife. Read full review
20
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
Though a relatively sober essay on criminal organization, Tycoon is also thoroughly pulpy -- that is, crass, unimaginative, corner-cutting, and simplistic, with the visual vocabulary of daytime soap. Read full review
20
Washington PostDesson Thomson
The movie covers too much ground with too little detail. It manages to be convoluted, complicated, incomprehensible and maddeningly thin all at the same time. Read full review
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