Baranov\u2019s background is not especially Putinesque. He initially rebelled against his parents, low-level Communis Party members, by embracing the freedoms of Glasnost, especially the hipster avant-garde. However, he quickly grew disillusioned by the excesses of the post-Communist era, which he himself helped feed, as a media executive specializing in reality TV schlock.
[adseense]
However, Baranov\u2019s knack for appealing to the unsophisticated masses made him valuable to oligarchs like Berezovsky and their ally, President Yeltsin. Baranov\u2019s strategy helps Yeltsin win his final term, despite the ailing leader\u2019s clearly compromised faculties. The oligarchs need a steady hand to guide Yeltsin, who would naturally become his successor. They chose Putin.
To better understand how deliberately and methodically Putin pursued power after the fall of Communism, read Yvonnick Denoel\u2019s brilliant nonfiction graphic novel, Putin\u2019s Fortune<\/strong><\/a>. However, Assayas and co-screenwriter Emmanuel Carrere only introduce Putin to the audience when the oligarchs ill-advisedly select him as \u201ctheir man.\u201d
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Wizard-of-the-Kremlin-2-1024x588.jpg\")
\u00a9<\/b>Courtesy of Vertical\u00a0<\/p>\r\nOf course, Putin\u2019s election, engineered by Baranov and financed by Berezovsky, quickly ushers in an entirely new regime. Putin informs the oligarchs they may keep their wealth and privileges, but they must surrender their ambitions of political influence. That does not sit well with any of his political patrons, especially Dmitri Sidorov (blatantly modeled after Mikhail Khodorkovsky), who emerges as an unlikely leader of the democratic opposition, until his imprisonment. That would be the same Sidorov who wooed away Baranov\u2019s girlfriend, the high-living and hard-partying Ksenia. Assayas assiduously tries to exploit the disconnect between Paul Dano\u2019s babyface and Baranov\u2019s extreme cynicism. While Dano played against type quite menacingly in Matt Reeves\u2019 The Batman<\/strong><\/a>, he cannot consistently summon the Bond villain-like urbane sophistication Baranov requires. \u00a9<\/b>Courtesy of Vertical\u00a0<\/p>\r\n Still, considering the 136-minute film\u2019s big, sweeping scope, it is rather impressive how much works. It tackles head-on censorship under Putin, as well as his callous handling of the Kursk submarine disaster<\/a>, at which time he allowed 118 Russian sailors perish, rather than request help from the U.S. Navy. If you like the review, share your thoughts below!<\/strong><\/p>\r\n
Even though Putin fired Surkov in 2020, the shadowy real-life Kremlin power broker has thus far managed to avoid fatal defenestration, a fate that coincidentally often befalls Putin\u2019s estranged associates. In some ways, Baranov departs from Surkov\u2019s confirmed biography, but he never expresses guilt or remorse to Lawrence Rowland, the American academic, whose interview prompts the flashbacks chronicling Putin\u2019s rise to absolute power. Even though the target audience will anticipate the general trajectory of the narrative, Assayas adroitly builds tension and a sense of mounting dread, as Russia grows increasingly authoritarian.
<\/ins>
Arguably, the unrecognizable Jude Law\u2019s chilling portrayal of Putin represents the best work of his career. He truly depicts the Russian \u201cpresident\u201d as a soulless sociopath. Yet, Putin himself might even approve of the disciplined restraint Law brings to bear. His embodiment of Putin is not a caricature\u2014he is cold-bloodedly calculating and unabashedly ruthless\u2014but in a way that is matter-of-factly realistic.
However, Khodorkovsky is poorly served by his analog, played by the preening Tom Sturridge, who is transformed into a physical dead-ringer for the tycoon-turned-dissident. Perversely, Assayas and Carrere present the thinly fictionalized Sidorov in much the same terms Putin\u2019s state media propaganda used to demonize Khodorovsky, who spent ten years in Russian prisons. (In reality, Khodorkovsky remains one of Putin\u2019s most credible critics, after he was released and exiled, as part of the regime\u2019s cosmetic clean-up for the international media\u2019s benefit, in advance of the Sochi Olympics.)
Conversely, Will Keen\u2019s depiction of Berezovsky is surprisingly forgiving and humanizing. Although his arrogance leads to his downfall, his Berezovsky comes across more as a tragic figure, with comedic overtones. Even Baranov admits to missing the failed power broker, after his tragic end.![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Wizard-of-the-Kremlin-3-1024x576.jpg\")
\u00a9<\/b>Courtesy of Vertical\u00a0<\/p>\r\n
Similarly, despite casting an Oscar-winner, Alicia Vikander, as Ksenia, Assayas and Carrere never invest her with much personality. Instead, they utilize her as a hollow weather vane, first favoring Sidorov and then shifting with the wind, in Baranov\u2019s direction.![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Wizard-of-the-Kremlin-4-1024x574.jpg\")
<\/p>\r\n
Obviously, this film will not sell to a Russian distributor, because there is too much veracity embedded in its sometimes gossipy drama. This is not a dry documentary\u2014it is a big, entertainingly messy political thriller. Yet, all the scariest parts are true. Highly recommended for the fact-based intrigue and Jude Law\u2019s eerie, image-shattering performance, Wizard of the Kremlin<\/strong> opens this Friday (5\/15) in theaters.
Grade: A-<\/p>\r\n