THE WIZARD OF THE KREMLIN
Starring: Paul Dano, Jude Law, Alicia Vikander, Tom Sturridge, Jeffrey Wright, and Will Keen
Director: Olivier Assayas
ADRIANO
The Wizard of the Kremlin is worth watching for Jude Law's brief yet uncanny performance as Vladimir Putin. Every time he was on screen, my eyes were peeled. Paul Dano also is excellent, but the movie starts to get a little scattershot over the course of its two-and-a-half-hour runtime. As a lover of political thrillers, the dialogue very easily sucked me into the film at times; however, the statement it wants to make on political power in the modern age and the rise of Putin felt lost to a point of no return, creating a forgettable experience.
QUENTIN
There is an interesting story buried somewhere in The Wizard of the Kremlin, but writer-director Olivier Assayas fails to capture it. First off, this movie is way too long, especially considering the first hour offers unnecessary backstory that is ultimately irrelevant to the plot’s central relationship between Vladimir Putin (Jude Law) and Vadim Baranov (Paul Dano). Second, presenting the story as fiction is confusing. There is a lot of truth here, but I’m not completely sure what is true and what is false, so what’s the point? Lastly, it’s a nitpick, but not even an attempt at Russian accents? Except for Law, this is an across-the-board mess.
This film was reviewed by Adriano and Quentin as part of Bitesize Breakdown's coverage of the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival and the 2025 Zurich Film Festival, respectively.