Think less and savvy more. You're not in Russia now.
"So just tell me, American, what the power is? Is it money? That's what my brother says. Well, you got lots of money, so what? I think the power is in truth. Whoever is right is strong. Say, you've cheated someone, made money out of it... Did it make you stronger? No, it did not. Because the truth is not on your side! And the guy you cheated - he is right. That means he is stronger. Right!?"
— Danila
Brother 2 (Brat 2) is a 2000 Russian crime film directed by Alexei Balabanov and starring Sergei Bodrov, a sequel to Brother (1997).
This film continues the story of the young Chechen war veteran Danila Bagrov who sets out on a violent international crusade to seek justice for the murder of his friend.
This film provides examples of:
- Actionized Sequel: The original Brother had few action scenes, with most of the gore hidden out of frame. Brother 2 has long and cinematic gunfight action sequences with bloodied corpses dropping left and right.
- Arc Words: "homeland", "power", "brother". There is also a Leitmotif: "Goodbye America" by Nautilus Pompilius.
- Ax-Crazy: Viktor. It is especially obvious when he uses a relic machine-gun Maxim to shake off the pursuing gangsters. In this particular episode actor Victor Suckhorukov manages to Put the "Laughter" in "Slaughter" in a truly terrifying manner. Victor also goes on a murderous rampage in the Ukrainian mafia bar.
- Beware the Quiet Ones: Danila comes across as a taciturn and socially awkward guy. He also does not mind killing people.
- Bewildering Punishment: When Belkin finds himself with a gun pointed at his groin he is genuinely clueless of what is going on.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Danila's second encounter with Marylin's pimp. Danila's interaction with his cellmates also counts as one.
- Denser and Wackier: The film loses some gritty realism of the first "Brother" to make room for more action and dark comedy. Main characters routinely get into rather unlikely situations such as fighting off dozens of gangsters with a stationary machinegun, meeting with a WW2 weapons collector in an underground bunker, travelling to the USA to take down a crime lord or dating pop-stars.
- First-Person Shooter: The beginning of Danila's assault on the Metro club is filmed in this manner for a profoundly unsettling effect. Although the majority of people Danila shoots in the scene appear to be armed thugs, there is at least one who looks like an innocent bystander/bar employee as he is shot in a storage area while lifting a crate.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Danila, while not a responsible man by any means, stays determined to finish the job. Victor on the other hand gets involved with women, spends money, does frivolous things, and ignores his brother and his mission in lieu of living the American dream. Victor gets himself in trouble by provoking the Ukrainian gangsters at the airport and makes himself a target. Victor then gets arrested by Chicago police after going on a rampage and killing everyone in the Ukrainian mafia's HQ.
- Misplaced Retribution: Danila believes Mennis is responsible for Kostya's death only because Belkin put all the blame on the American. In reality Mennis had nothing to do to with the murder.
- Mistaken for Racist: A homeless black man is lecturing Victor on why crayfish are inedible, stating that they are bottom feeders. Danila tells the man, "Негр, go!" (Negr, go!) Despite the phonetic similarity between "negr" and the English N-word, "negr" is not considered an offensive word in Russian, it is just the word used for black people (contrast with "чёрный", the Russian word for black, which is a slur but is one directed towards caucasians, not black people). Obviously not knowing this, the man is offended and returns to confront Danila with his friends, before fleeing as Danila draws a handgun.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: The Fascist - an underground gun dealer is never referred to by any other name. There's no mystery about the origin of the nickname as he prefers to wear pieces of the WW2 German military uniform and greets people with "Heil Hitler". Most of his merchandise is German and Soviet weaponry of the WW2 era.
- Robbing the Dead: Upon finding Kostya's body Danila swiftly goes through his dead friend's pockets and takes a mobile phone and some money.
- Rugged Scar: Boris, Irina's bodyguard, has one at the corner of his mouth. Chances are he got it fighting in the Afghan War.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Danila is still this and not much has changed in his demeanor during the time that has passed since the first film.
- Shoot Everything That Moves: Danila in the "employees only" area of the Metro Club.
- Sociopathic Hero: Danila doesn't care for much except his own simplistic sense of justice and the Russian rock music.
- Swapped Roles: Victor was the apple of his mother's eye when he was working as a hitman in St. Petersburg, and Danila was seen as the listless failure in need of help. Now that Victor is back in small town Priozersk and Danila is in Moscow, Victor takes the role of the disappointing child.
- Siblings in Crime: Danila ropes Victor into coming to America with him for revenge, as opposed to Victor getting Danila into crime in Brother.
- Sibling Team: Averted. Victor basically abandons Danila, leading him to fend for himself in Chicago's mean streets.
- The Mafiya: Belkin fits slightly here, though he is admittedly more of a crooked cowardly businessman than a Russian kingpin. The Ukrainian mafia in Chicago fits the traditional Mafia bill much better, but is of course Ukrainian and not Russian.
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Victor stops shooting pursuing cars packed with angry gangsters only when the vehicles EXPLODE.
- Tranquil Fury: Danila never shows any anger or fear. He is shown to be in a state of eerie serenity as he recites a children's poem about homeland preparing for a firefight.
- What Measure Is a Mook?: In Brother, Danila kills the main villain with the same collected attitude he kills everyone else with. In Brother 2 Danila presumably lets Mennis live, despite killing all of his thugs even more mercilessly than in Brother.
