The video game company behind "War Thunder" decided to create this one on a low budget. It depicts a legend of a small group of soldiers, which are able to stop the Wehrmachts advance to Moscow against all odds. This tale exaggerated what happened in reality, but was heavily promoted during the war for propaganda reasons. It was debunked after the war, but the legend was kept alive (for patriotic reasons?), search for "Ivan Panfilov" on Wikipedia for more background. The producers deciders decided to support the legend anyway.
The political background has some impact on the movie - expect the Russian soldiers depicted as unbelievable heroic and successful, German soldiers as dumb cannon fodder (how did they even come near Moscow?). Character development is minimal which makes the first half a bit boring. In the second half focus is on action, these parts are good for the budget. 3 out of 10, action parts are OK, but unrealistic and characters/acting are not so good. 30 years ago my reception would have been better, but the bar has been raised since. Expect a LOT of 10 star reviews from Russia.
The political background has some impact on the movie - expect the Russian soldiers depicted as unbelievable heroic and successful, German soldiers as dumb cannon fodder (how did they even come near Moscow?). Character development is minimal which makes the first half a bit boring. In the second half focus is on action, these parts are good for the budget. 3 out of 10, action parts are OK, but unrealistic and characters/acting are not so good. 30 years ago my reception would have been better, but the bar has been raised since. Expect a LOT of 10 star reviews from Russia.