'Thunder: A Difficult Childhood' is a prequel to the highly publicized film adaptation of Bubble Studios' comics. Instead of a direct sequel to the story, the creators decided to tell the story of the famous St. Petersburg police officer's early year...
In March 2022, filming began on a movie about the adventures of young Igor Grom. Throughout the year, news emerged, various promotions and special screenings were organized, and interest in the project was stoked. Then came January 1, and exactly at 20:23 'Thunder: A Difficult Childhood' appeared on the Kinopoisk platform. We tell you what came of it.
Like a Bolt from the Blue
The project left a controversial mark on Russian cinema. Some became fans of the burgeoning film universe, others were pleased with the adaptation of comic book adventures into cinematic language, while still others ruthlessly criticized the film for its unnatural depiction of St. Petersburg and its government mandate.
'Major Grom: Plague Doctor' — the Russian comic book movie that succeeded.
Open materialAt the box office, the film was rather a failure, but after landing on the online platforms Kinopoisk and Netflix, 'MGPD' became a real hit and even entered the top 10 most popular films on the 'Tudum' platform worldwide. It would not be an exaggeration to say that, as a result, the project built a solid fan base, ready to fight for their beloved universe and awaiting new films with their favorite characters. And one such film was announced in 2022.
Bubble Studios decided to surprise the fans. Instead of a direct sequel to the adventures of Major Grom, his partner Dima Dubin, and journalist Yulia Pchelkina, the creators decided to present viewers with a prequel about the young Igor Grom and his father Konstantin. The project was initially planned as a short film, but in the end, the runtime of 'Thunder: A Difficult Childhood' reached 1 hour 20 minutes, and bypassing theatrical release, the project landed on the Kinopoisk platform.
Preparing for 'A Difficult Childhood'
Filming of the prequel began in March in St. Petersburg, and almost immediately, frames seemingly from the past appeared on social media. St. Petersburg was transported back to the 90s by the filmmakers. The Marble Palace, which 'plays' the role of the city police headquarters, was hung with signs, kiosks stood on St. Isaac's Square, and explosions could be heard in the background. Everyone wore tracksuits and other clothing that 90s youth dreamed of. It was already clear then that the film would be strikingly different from the first part.
In the summer, the first posters of the main characters of the upcoming film appeared online. Fans immediately noticed the coordinates. The next day, at exactly those points, one could find posters with the characters and take them home. The author of these lines has two whole posters from that promotion 'living' at home. One hangs in the hallway, the other is hidden in the closet. It's funny that the main villain is the one hidden in the closet. But let's not spoil it.
Next came meetings with fans, readings of audiobooks, around which time the project changed its name (the word 'Major' disappeared from the title), at one point you could even call Grom's mobile and hear the voice of the lead actor in the original, Tikhon Zhiznevsky (by the way, this number appears in the film, and if you make a call now, you can hear little Igor's voice). Trailers for the film came out in the fall, and in December there were special fan screenings in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, and several other Russian cities. So what did viewers ultimately see?
A Coming-of-Age Story
The action takes place in the 90s, approximately 20 years before the events of the film 'Major Grom: Plague Doctor'. According to the film's plot, Major Konstantin Grom (Sergey Marin), father of Igor Grom, along with his partner Fyodor Prokopenko (Alexey Vedernikov), is hunting for the boss of the St. Petersburg criminal underworld, nicknamed Anubis. The antagonist didn't get this nickname for nothing—he is clad in a corresponding costume and commits his crimes with the help of dark magic (according to eyewitness accounts). Parallel to the father's investigation, Igor (Kai Getz) and his best friend Ignat (Vladimir Yaganov) are looking for a way to make a lot of money fast, which gets them involved in dubious adventures.
Characters
Before the film's release, it was unclear who would be the main driver of the plot: Igor or his father Konstantin. In the end, the screenwriters managed to create a balance, both in time and actions, between the two characters. The main goal of this film is to show the relationship between the two Groms and explain why Igor became exactly as we saw him in the first film. And it can be confidently said that Kai Getz and Sergey Marin handled this task excellently.
When watching, one must not forget that this is, first and foremost, Igor's story, and we see the characters through his eyes. This is where the image of a superdad, a cool cop without fear or reproach, is built. The very model of behavior that Igor himself will later adopt.
Almost the same can be said about the other characters. Uncle Fedya is Dad's best friend, a cheerful fellow from whom you can win a valuable prize at chess. And Yura Smirnov is a cool undercover cop, nothing like Dad, of course, and speaking in the manner of action movie heroes of the time, like the Terminator, whose poster Igor drew and proudly hung in their living room. That's how the boy with a vivid imagination sees them.
Atmosphere
Many critics noted that the atmosphere and the very image of that time seem pompous or even 'cranberry' (overly stereotypical and false). But, according to the creators, this was done intentionally. After all, we are looking at this story through the eyes of a teenager. And what do you remember from that era? Of course: treats, bright chewing gum, tracksuits, cassette tapes, and video game consoles!
At the same time, a contrast is deliberately created with the magic, sects, and dark criminal city. It turns into a kind of reflection of real and adult life, in which our hero ends up at the end.
The Verdict?
Let's start with the downsides. The short runtime. The film really lacks time, and because of this, the ending feels rushed, which is certainly disappointing. There are moments you'd like to know a bit more about, such as how Anubis achieved his position.
Scope. The trailers were strong and effective, so one could expect something more large-scale. In the end, however, we saw a short local conflict with a lightning-fast resolution. In one interview, Sergey Marin said that the film already receives love as an advance—but this love needs to be justified in every detail!
The main thing, in my opinion, that the project succeeded at is revealing the character of Igor Grom. We learned more about his childhood, found out where and how those traits came from that made us love him in the first part. The film seems to have become an additional issue in the series of comic book movies.
I wanted to avoid comparisons with the Marvel Cinematic Universe in every possible way, but it's unavoidable here. The MCU also has a series of short films that explain certain moments of the film universe, such as 'The Consultant' or 'Team Thor', which tells where Thor was during the civil war. It's just that Bubble did it on a larger and more epic scale, as was the case with the studio's other short films ('Airplanes' and 'Major Grom', where it all began).
I would like to conclude with the words of Bubble founder Artem Gabrelyanov: 'The success of Major Grom was not a coincidence. We are here to show that we are here to stay.' We believe and closely follow the development of the new comic book film universe.
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