Ivan the Terrible Part II was famously shun from public viewing by the State. This is ironic (and Eisenstein probably knew what was coming to him) because the character that was so beloved by communists in Part I becomes more tyrannical in Part II, which is a heavy foreshadow for Stalin himself, who banned it. Nevertheless, we do have the final product in its intended form, subtitled "The Boyars' Plot", which I find somewhat redundant because the previous film does the same thing with the boyars; I wouldn't be surprised if they also plotted in Part III.
We get to see some of Ivan the Terrible's childhood. It turns out the nobles assassinated his mother. The death of his mother is actually the worst scene in the whole thing because she comes out to say "I've been poisoned" and proceeds to die, which is incredibly corny. Despite this, the significance of these scenes I do appreciate. It gives Ivan a more layered, biased reason for his political opposition to the boyars. This is not at all to say the nobility doesn't deserve reprehension especially in old states like these, I'm just saying it makes the plot more intricate. I restrain myself from critiquing some unfinished thoughts in the movie because I don't know how much of it was to be continued, but for now I'll just state this: the significance of Ivan's mother being murdered doesn't really come up afterwards in this particular film, and it's a shame because it makes its inclusion seem at random or as filler.
The only thing left after this is, well, the boyars' plot, which is to kill Ivan. So the rest of the film is divided into two long sequences. The first sequence is in color, and sees Ivan at a banquet. Vladimir, a prominent character in both films, is a young boyar descendant who the nobility wants to put in place of Ivan. They tried to do it in the first movie and they now plan to do it after killing Ivan. Vladimir is not wise nor smart, and he gets drunk at the banquet and almost reveals the plot to Ivan, who already knows it. The banquet sequence is in color, which breaks some grounds, and there could be multiple reasons for this. But to me the actual use of color in contrast benefits the next scene, which is in black-and-white. Ivan convinces drunk Vladimir to put on the tsar's clothes and pretend to walk down the castle in prayer, followed by the Oprichniki (the tsar's devout followers). This sequence is my favorite part because the previous scene, in color, full of movement and music and food, is now stopped abruptly to see a drunk man dressed as tsar followed by hundreds of black hoodies slowly through the castle, all in black-and-white. The first movie has more iconic moments for me, but the visual feast that this sequence presents is a cut above. It finishes with Vladimir's mother Evfrosinia (Ivan's aunt) holding Vladimir in the ground, who has been killed believed to be the actual tsar. This is the best moment in the film because once Vladimir's body is taken away, the tsar's crown is the only thing left and Evfrosinia stays still as if her son is still there, summarizing the desires of that character: she never loved her dumb son, but the crown instead.
The Boyars' Plot has good individual scenes, like the aforementioned death of Vladimir. Another good scene would be young Ivan asking the boyar to step out of his bed. I like that scene particularly for the connotation of boyars obeying the king in royal contexts, yet completely undermining him when they're all alone with him. This scene is also the first moment Ivan expresses his distaste for the nobility and send one of them to die, so it is important.
However, that being said, the plot moves very slowly and there isn't a smooth progression from point A to point B sometimes, considering the film is also short like the first one, which does it much better. The ending is good and leaves on a high note for the next part which never happened. I would assume that third film would've been the best out of the three because it could have included Ivan's murder of his own son, some of his political wars and finally his death. With that in mind, I can't help but think that this second movie would probably be considered "the one where nothing happens" in the trilogy.
6.5/10.
We get to see some of Ivan the Terrible's childhood. It turns out the nobles assassinated his mother. The death of his mother is actually the worst scene in the whole thing because she comes out to say "I've been poisoned" and proceeds to die, which is incredibly corny. Despite this, the significance of these scenes I do appreciate. It gives Ivan a more layered, biased reason for his political opposition to the boyars. This is not at all to say the nobility doesn't deserve reprehension especially in old states like these, I'm just saying it makes the plot more intricate. I restrain myself from critiquing some unfinished thoughts in the movie because I don't know how much of it was to be continued, but for now I'll just state this: the significance of Ivan's mother being murdered doesn't really come up afterwards in this particular film, and it's a shame because it makes its inclusion seem at random or as filler.
The only thing left after this is, well, the boyars' plot, which is to kill Ivan. So the rest of the film is divided into two long sequences. The first sequence is in color, and sees Ivan at a banquet. Vladimir, a prominent character in both films, is a young boyar descendant who the nobility wants to put in place of Ivan. They tried to do it in the first movie and they now plan to do it after killing Ivan. Vladimir is not wise nor smart, and he gets drunk at the banquet and almost reveals the plot to Ivan, who already knows it. The banquet sequence is in color, which breaks some grounds, and there could be multiple reasons for this. But to me the actual use of color in contrast benefits the next scene, which is in black-and-white. Ivan convinces drunk Vladimir to put on the tsar's clothes and pretend to walk down the castle in prayer, followed by the Oprichniki (the tsar's devout followers). This sequence is my favorite part because the previous scene, in color, full of movement and music and food, is now stopped abruptly to see a drunk man dressed as tsar followed by hundreds of black hoodies slowly through the castle, all in black-and-white. The first movie has more iconic moments for me, but the visual feast that this sequence presents is a cut above. It finishes with Vladimir's mother Evfrosinia (Ivan's aunt) holding Vladimir in the ground, who has been killed believed to be the actual tsar. This is the best moment in the film because once Vladimir's body is taken away, the tsar's crown is the only thing left and Evfrosinia stays still as if her son is still there, summarizing the desires of that character: she never loved her dumb son, but the crown instead.
The Boyars' Plot has good individual scenes, like the aforementioned death of Vladimir. Another good scene would be young Ivan asking the boyar to step out of his bed. I like that scene particularly for the connotation of boyars obeying the king in royal contexts, yet completely undermining him when they're all alone with him. This scene is also the first moment Ivan expresses his distaste for the nobility and send one of them to die, so it is important.
However, that being said, the plot moves very slowly and there isn't a smooth progression from point A to point B sometimes, considering the film is also short like the first one, which does it much better. The ending is good and leaves on a high note for the next part which never happened. I would assume that third film would've been the best out of the three because it could have included Ivan's murder of his own son, some of his political wars and finally his death. With that in mind, I can't help but think that this second movie would probably be considered "the one where nothing happens" in the trilogy.
6.5/10.