Leaving behind the dashing 90s, domestic cinema hastened to transfer the main milestones of this difficult time for the country to the big screen. Detective-criminal projects have gained popularity, one of which has become “Deadly Force”. Actors of the series will be the topic of our article.
Unofficial spin-offs
Based on the novels by Andrey Kivinov, “Strength ...” was perceived by the competitor successful at that time “Streets of Broken Lights”. Based on NTV, they received an incredible rating. However, Kivinov, being the main screenwriter, did not want to sort out the disagreements with the channel’s management, but simply left. The "streets", of course, managed without him, and he himself accepted the offer from ORT (now Channel One).
So the series was born, similar to almost 100%, called “Deadly Force”. The actors, who became the main screen prototypes for the following years, gladly agreed to star in the pilot series. But not all of them remained until the end of the series.
Steeper than competitors
Television, perhaps for the first time in its history, was faced with an unprecedented phenomenon: at the same time on two channels the same series were shown, similar as two drops of water. It only remained to hope for the audience and their preference. Independent agency TNS Gallup Media analyzed the broadcast indicators and reported: the primacy of the rating belongs to the brainchild of ORT. In order not to confuse the audience at all, Andrey Kivinov diversified the plot with an adventurous mood. So, the action of “Deadly Force” was not limited to the territory of Russia, and the employees of the authorities were “allowed” to get to the top authorities, investigating the most high-profile cases. The actors of "Deadly Force" replenished with a number of invited stars, which also reflected in popularity. The main pride of the series was Gerard Depardieu.
Plot motives
The story revolves around the operatives of the St. Petersburg police. The first part of the series connected a single plot story. In the future, each episode developed independently, without communication with its predecessor.
Senior lieutenants, captains, majors - all of them were united by “Deadly Force”. Actors and roles quickly took root in the hearts of the audience. The series perfectly showed all the hardships of the police service: for a small salary, operatives fulfill their professional duty, often endangering their own lives.
Top Screen Faces
Even when creating the series, the creators set the selection of leading roles as an important task. They should be dissimilar, charismatic, with a sense of humor, and, of course, real men. The actors of "Deadly Force", such as Konstantin Khabensky, got an excellent opportunity for career growth. In the series, Khabensky always played the senior lieutenant, and after - captain Igor Plakhov, and lasted all six seasons. Further creative activity of the actor is known to everyone - Konstantin turned into a leading artist of the country. He played in many vivid pictures, took part in the dubbing of a number of films.
The actors of “Deadly Force” include Andrei Fedortsov, who has become a screen partner for Khabensky. Andrei’s peculiarity is his ability to balance on the verge of serious, dramatic and comedic images. He played a car thief in The New Adventures of the Cops, a board member in The Master and Margarita, a minister in The Conspiracy, and a major in Liteiny. As you can see, the range of roles allows Andrei to remain one of the most sought-after contemporary artists.
The fugitives deserve forgiveness
And although “Strength ...” was superior in popularity to “Streets of Broken Lights”, with the completion of nine episodes of the first season, Alexei Nilov (Larin), Sergey Selin (Dukalis), Mikhail Trukhin (Volkov), Alexander Polovtsev (Solovets) returned to the original source. Their departure was compared with the transfer of Plakhov, Rogov and Shishkin, who joined them, to the main department under the leadership of General San Sanych (Victor Kostetsky). Retired actors of the series “Deadly Force” are replaced by new characters. So, majors, criminologists, captains, informants, experts are registered in the script. New faces are Sergei Koshonin, Mikhail Porechenkov, Evgeny Ganelin, Yuri Galtsev. At the same time, a number of secondary images are introduced: Rogova's mother-in-law and father-in-law (Olga Kalmykova and George Shtil), the prosecutor (Stanislav Sadalsky), the girl Plakhova (Julia Rudina).
Place in history
Ratings of the series contain mostly neutral reviews. Critics noted the “exploitation” of template characters, which could have been in any film similar in style, and the main characters, Plakhov and Rogov, are not seen by crime fighters. The scriptwriters' mistake is to endow them with absurd features and a set of shortcomings. This has a bad effect on personal life and the performance of their duties.
In part, the actors of “Deadly Force” themselves agreed with this. Once Konstantin Khabensky admitted that he was completely dissatisfied with his work in the picture.
However, viewers watched the series with interest for six years. Now he will take his place on the same shelf with the “Cops” and “Kamenskaya”, but then, in the 2000s, “Deadly Force” was perceived as a real breakthrough.