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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: Hbo Home Video
Salesrank: 62849
Released: March 25, 2008 |
| Our Price: $6.78 |
| Used Price: $3.03 |
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
A gripping, dramatic thriller infused with a twist of dark humor, PU-239 reveals the lengths to which a man will go to secure his family's future. While working at a nuclear power plant in Russia, Timofey (Paddy Considine) is exposed to a deadly dose of radiation while trying to aver a plant disaster. Instead of rewarding Timonfey for his efforts, the plants treats him as a scapegoat, offering no compensation to him or his family. Desperate to provide security for his wife and son, Timofey steals a small amount of Pu-239 - weapons-grade Plutonium- and head to Moscow to sell it on the black market. Caught up in the "new Russia" of hoods and hookers, Timofey struggles to make the sales; his efforts resulting in deadly consequences.
Description of PU-239:
Gloomy but soulful, PU-239 is the story of a Russian nuclear plant worker, Timofey (Paddy Considine), who is exposed to a lethal level of radiation due to general incompetence at the facility. When a cover-up ensues, Timofey is forced to go on unpaid leave with little time left to care for his wife (Radha Mitchell) and son. Stealing a portion of weapons-grade plutonium from the plant, he smuggles it to Moscow and meets up with a black marketeer, Shiv (Oscar Isaac), who hopes to sell the material and pay off a debt to a powerful gangster. The simplicity of the idea, however, is undercut by a series of misunderstandings and bad intentions, leaving both Timofey and Shiv dangling and increasingly endangered. The moody feature is helped a great deal by colorful performances from Jason Flemyng as a loose-cannon associate of Shiv's, and Nikolaj Lie Kaas as a criminal baron who has to suffer the foolish likes of Shiv until he's quite had enough. Mitchell is very good as the spouse who gradually figures out how bad off Timofey is, watching helplessly as anonymous authorities dismantle her life to obscure evidence of their nuclear irresponsibility. Writer-director Scott Z. Burns gracefully captures the tragic cycle of events and manages to inject a trace of humor here and there (especially around Flemyng's character). He also catches some extraordinary, nighttime images of Moscow's busy streets, a look that perhaps hasn't been seen quite this way in a movie before. --Tom Keogh
PU-239 Reviews:
Have a Stolly, with a twist 
2009-06-21 - Definitely not top-shelf HBO. A tense and very serious storyline is minimized with comic relief (some of it pretty funny) and Russian gangsters that are as dumb as a fence post. Two Russian hoods have stolen a blonde, long-haired thoroughbred dog for the purpose of extortion. Imagine this dog placidly sprawled out over a fat, dumb-looking thug. And with a thick Russian accent he says: "I have nevva seen a doogg like dis, it is like a woman,.......... I have named her Sheba". A curious mix of heavy melodrama and comedy. But if you ever wanted to see someone snort plutonium, this is your movie.
Another solid HBO film 
2009-06-02 - Set in 1990's Russia, this compelling drama follows a scientist (Considine) who suffers severe radiation poisoning on the job. His employers claim the incident was his fault and refuse compensation, even going so far as to produce a false radiation test that downplays the extent of his exposure. Out of work, dying, and with a wife and son to look after, the desperate scientist steals a vial of plutonium with the intention of selling it on the black market. He subsequently becomes involved with some dangerous criminal types, the type that became so common in this time period in Russia, and his life becomes intertwined with theirs. The tragic drama unfolds as the man desperately seeks to make some money for his family before his inevitable death. The film, although sad and serious, is laced with dark humor throughout. Considine's character also narrates the story, and I enjoyed the rather poetic element that this adds to the film. This movie is good for both the individual story and as a glimpse into this turbulent time period in Russia in general.
I think this could be a good movie if you can get past the language.
2009-01-07 - I tried to watch this movie and got about 10 minutes in until I could not stand the language. The story is very intriguing and exciting and I thought I could blank out the "F" word but it is in almost every other sentence. I finally screamed at it and said no more of this trash talk.
I'd love to watch an edited version and find out what happens. I will never understand why movie producers feel the need to make language so bad. If it was occ use I could have blocked it out but it is constant. So if language bothers you this is not a movie for you.
Fine Film in the Russian Tradition
2008-11-25 - I love Russian literature and films. There's a profound darkness laced with a profound sense of humanity that makes these films and books work for me. Dostoevsky, Gogol, Tolstoy, Solzhenitszyn are writers I always want to read. They show us our failures and our despairs, but they do so in such a way that we end up feeling that we can finally succeed no mater what the cost.
PU 239 is a work that comes close to a mark set by those writers. It has a hero dying of radiation poisoning who is struggling to secure some money for his wife and son so that they will be able to survive after he's gone. This hero's determination and his philosophical musings will have you thinking about the film long after you've seen it.
What doesn't work as well in the film is the comic gangsters. The plot requires them, but their silliness undermines the existential situation of the dying hero.
Pu-239 
2008-09-20 - A nice movie featuring Paddy Considine (Dead Mans Shoes).
Although a bid depressing in nature, there is some comic relief provided throughout by some of the supporting cast playing 'clueless mob goons'.
Shot on location in several parts of Russia, it gives a good idea of what life is like in post cold-war Russia. I watched it with my girlfriend whose Russian. Although not a big fan of these kind of tragic dramas, she liked it because the scenery was accurate. I would recommend it.
