Artur Smolyaninov as Oleg "Lyuty" Lyutayev

Just saw this movie 2 days ago, and I was blown away! Made me think "Platoon," "Full Metal Jacket," "Apocalypse Now," (precisely just like advertised!) Jean Claude Van Damme's "Legionnaire," and "Lawrence of Arabia" in one epic flick.

And to think "Rambo 3" was the only awesome movie about the Soviet-Afghan War. Well, "9th Company" made me respect the Russian Army (particularly its paratroopers and Spetsnaz to some degree) even more. This was because unlike in "Rambo 3" and other movies "Red Dawn" where the Ruskies were portrayed as ruthless butcherers, 9th Co. made them warriors with heart.

Anyway, that was not why I posted. Here is why: In 9th Company (or 9 Rota as called in Russian), I could name a few of my favorite characters: Lyuty, Vorobey, and Petrovsky (a.k.a. Giaconda).

The one that struck me as the most unbelievable among the company was Lyuty. From what I observed, he would be a combination of 2 actors and 3 roles: Charlie Sheen as Chris Taylor in "Platoon" + Tom Cruise's David Shawn in "Taps" (what with Lyuty being a natural leader like Cadet Shawn) + TC's rendition of Ron Kovic in "Born on the Fourth of July."

Outstanding performance by Artur BTW. Loved it! He pulled off a fantastic combo of Cruise and Sheen in the movie.