When the Nazis attempt to win the war by using a mysterious “Portal” device they inadvertently send an elite army of paratroopers and planes, flying through time to present day (2014) Moscow.

SYNOPSIS:

http://www.magicalrealism.us/2013/07/04/metro-2-moscow/ TITLE — After arriving in 2014 the Nazi soldiers move to take control of Metro-2, the secret underground metro system which parallels the public Moscow Metro. The system is an interconnected network of deep interconnected subway lines that provide a quick and secure means of evacuation for the leadership in case of nuclear war. Metro-2 is still operated by the Presidential General Directorate of Special Programmes and Ministry of Defence. The length of Metro-2 is rumored to exceed that of the public Metro. PLOT — In 1944, the siege at Stalingrad has been broken and the German army is in retreat. Hitler is looking to the occult for something to change this fortune. Jungen Müller, a high ranking officer within the Black Sun Legion, the Reich’s secretive occult section of the SS, is searching a tiny Belorussian village for the “Devil’s Key”, a mythical weapon which is rumored to grant the ability to walk through walls and cross continents in the blink of an eye. He finds the portal weapon in the grave of a medieval crusader. In the casket, there is a disk like portal device, several modern pistols and an ancient book that are removed from the arms of the knight. Belarusian Resistance attack and keep Müller from possessing the book, but the portal device falls into the hands of the Germans. The device is taken to a secret warehouse in Germany, where there is much academic and theoretical debate. There is intelligence information that Stalin will be returning to Moscow on a flight from Samara into Vnukovo. There isn’t a book with instructions. However, the Nazi occultists seem to think when activated it will move entire armies. In 2014 Russia, the President of Russia, Alexander Grishin, has been on a working holiday attending a conference and vacationing on the Black Sea. He is young, energetic and fit but not entirely popular; Russia has many problems and most of them rest on his shoulders. It is reported in the media that Grishin is soon flying back into Moscow. The Presidential fleet uses Vnukovo airport. In 1944 Germany, 20 Junkers transport planes are outfitted with elite paratroopers with orders to kidnap or kill Stalin, secure the government Metro-2, destroy almost everything between the airport and the capital. A force of reinforcements are scheduled for the next day. They are to capture Stalin and take over the airport to facilitate the landing of a larger force the next day using a larger force. They are given extensive maps of the airport and the Moscow tunnel system. In 1944, Metro-2 exceeded that of the public Metro. It is said to have four lines, and to lie 50 to 200m deep. It is said to connect the Kremlin with the security service (NKVD) headquarters, the government airport at Vnukovo, and an underground town at Ramenki, in addition to other locations of national importance. Adding to the idea that Hitler is a few sweaters shy of a closet, the soldiers are given a long list of targets. They are to use the Metro-2 to destroy Moscow State University (and capture nuclear physicists) and destroy the facilities and archives at Mosfilm (destroy propaganda), both are located in Ramenki. The soldiers don’t think it is possible to do everything on the list… perhaps none. They are told the plan comes directly from Hitler. They are elite soldiers and proceed. This film can easily be Luftwaffe fest. The Junkers transport planes are accompanied by many Messerschmitt fighters, Stuka dive bombers and some Heinkel heavy bombers in the mission. It is more like and invasion force given the amount of equipment they have mustered. Most notably they are bringing 30 or 40 motorcycles. The plan is for the lead plane to use the portal device to get them to Moscow and for the plane to then immediately return the device to Germany safely. Over Belorussia in 1944, the huge airborne force is meet with Russian Polikarpov I-15 and I-16 fighters. However there is panic in the voice of the Russian pilots. There are simply too many German planes to stop. Vnukovo and all of Moscow is put on alert and the Russian scramble to make a defense. Just as the few Soviet Polikarpov fighters are about to close in and shot down the planes. The portal device is activated and dark clouds obscure everything. The German forces have disappeared. They arrive out of the dark clouds in 2014 and on the tail of the President of Russia’s plane just as it is landing at Vnukovo. The lead German plane exits the battle and returns to German in the West. It seems that they turn without really assessing the situation. Their goal is not to subject the new weapon to any risk. There is some consternation and debate, but after 10 seconds the German fighters attack and disable the strange modern plane carrying the President. There are two modern Russian fighters escorting the President’s plane but the radar air-to-air missiles take time to lock onto the small fighters, by then the President’s plane is crash landing on the runway… President Grishin survives but is left with only a few security men. MiG-29 have a 30 mm cannon in the right wing but the capacity is for only 100 rounds. They have radar guided missles that aren’t affective at extremely close range. One of the escort MiG-29, over whelmed by the shear number of fighters over the airport and is shot down by the Messerschmitts. The pilot frantically radios for planes to respond. He is about to bail out but he stays in the plane to avoid a school. The German paratroopers are deployed and take essential control of the airport. The airport security is designed against lone or small groups of terrorists. This takes the entire airport by surprise. However, airport security does respond on the ground even though they are outnumbered and out gunned. The German fighter bombers destroy certain buildings, fuel supply depots, and most importantly the planes of the Russian pilots stationed at Vnukovo. There is a S-300 air defense system protecting the airport but the missiles fly aimlessly into the atmosphere. The Russian air defense personnel on the ground are trained for air attack but against modern aircraft. They find an older shoulder mounted surface-to-air heat seeking missile, which is fired at one of the 1944 era planes. It accidentally hits the other escort MiG-29. The remainder of the transport planes land and taxi to the Vnukovo VIP facility. The paratroopers have found the entrance to the Metro-2. The transport planes are unloaded with all the most sophisticated 1944 German light weaponry. These German soldiers are so well trained, even though in a strange new time, they don’t hesitate one second. The motorcycles are driven off the transport planes and into the Metro-2. The German motorcycle troops have orders to race thought the metro to strategic locations to seal off entry into the system – Kremlin and NKVD/FSB building entrances, etc. The security force, with a slightly injured President Grishin, is racing German soldiers on foot for the entry to the Metro-2. They aren’t aware of motorcycle soldiers already in the tunnels. Grishin’s group wins the race, but now they are underground and there are tons (all) of German troops following them. In front of the President’s group are elite crews of mechanized and fast moving German soldiers and behind them are also German soldiers. Blitzkrieg. In a matter of minutes, before there is any counter attack, the airport is in ruins and almost all the German soldiers are underground. The German officers, half in shock, meet. Something strange is going on and they have never seen such weapons. They fear that they can’t win the war; but the mission has been a success. They agree that Stalin or “someone important” is in the tunnels and they should proceed regardless. The Russian security forces go through all options. They can’t flood the tunnels with gas, President Grishin would be in danger. They do try to assault the airport entrance but it is defended and finally sealed by explosives. Russian troops enter at the Kremlin on a rescue mission, but their progress is slowed by the motorcycle troops. Only a small group enter the tunnel before the entrance is blown up by the two German motorcycle troops who were sent forward. Their progress is slow. So it seems that the Kremlin and the airport entrance are sealed. German soldiers appear to block the other main entrances/exits and are poised to blow them up also. Fortunately, the Russian President is an ex-military and policeman. Trained in hand-to-hand combat, a Judo expert and he speaks German also. President Grishin slowly emerges as the hero of the film. He is opposed by several German anti-heroes and in the end by Jungen Müller. Grishin fights a prolonged running battle with his few men with the goal of reaching a weapons cache and communications equipment at the Ramenki underground complex. The German bombers that accompanied the raid reach Moscow State University. They are told to spare the physics department. They also bomb the buildings of Mosfilm in an effort to destroy the nation’s propaganda effort. The explosions aren’t so terrific. Less fire and more dust from the collapsed buildings. After the damage is done, Russian Air Force Mig 29s arrive and clear the skies of German planes. The plane with the portal device is not destroyed by the Russian Air Force. It seems to have escaped back to Germany. Media has been covering it… they have illegally tapped into the phones and are monitoring the FSB radio frequencies. They even have security camera feeds from the tunnels. The media analysts are analyzing the situation faster than the FSB staff so the director of operations simply watches TV and gives orders based on this information. There is plenty of media speculation what the terrorist’s goal is Kermlin gold, a regime change, simple assassination. But the public is most captivated by President Grishin who is fighting close combat in the tunnel. Not only is he leading his own rescue (saving his own life), but he is defending Russia live on TV. Every Moscovite is listening on the radio, watching on TV, even portable TVs and it is being streamed live online. Perhaps at first the Russian public is not so patriotic about the entire matter, but the public begins to warm to the fight. President Grishin and his security detail hold up hiding in a closet. While they are in radio contact with the FSB, they are over whelmed by the large number of Germans in the tunnel, and can’t move. Help from the outside isn’t available. Several security men are sent out to find an exit that was suggested to them. The President’s group emerge from hiding, fight for a short time and then run. They hide and run and play cat and mouse with the Germans, all the time working their way back toward the Kremlin. The Germans are amazed at the empty Ramenki underground complex, equipped to sustain the lives of thousands of people for up to 30 years. It still has – food depots, weapons cache, generators, sleeping quarters, cinemas and even swimming pools! The Battle of Moscow State University surrounds Hitler’s orders to capture and bring back a nuclear physicist. The German soldiers emerge from the tunnels at the university and, according to their 1944 map, storm the former office of the head of the physics department. An innocent secretary is shown photos of all the most significant Soviet physics. Yakov Frenkel, Georgy Flyorov, Abram Ioffe, Vitaly Khlopyn, Alexander Brodsky, Igor Kurchatov, Yakov Zeldovich, Yuly Khariton and Alexander Leipunsky. She draws a blank at each name. Finally, Igor Kurchatov and this name she knows. The German’s think they have success and eagerly follow her. She takes them to a classroom labeled “Kurchatov Lecture Hall”, where there is a small bust of the hero outside in the hallway. As a testament to the new order in Russia, there is extensive damage to the buildings from bombing but the electricity to Mosfilm is restored quickly with modern diesel powered electric generators. NOTHING CAN STOP MOSFILM!!! Basically the Battle for Mosfilm, develops similarly, the German soldiers emerge from the secret tunnel and question a secretary. She is given a list of names, and she looks them up on her computer — Vsevolod Pudovkin, Dmitriy Vasilyev, Nikolai Kryuchkov, Yelena Tyapkina, Yakov Protazanov, Lev Sverdlin, Alexander Dovzhenko, Lev Kuleshov. She writes down the location and takes them to the film vaults. The soldiers don’t know what to do so they machinegun the films on the shelves. The secretary is practical and tries to explain that they have all been digitized into HD quality video and that they didn’t destroy anything of value. But the Germans seem satisfied. Slowly the German soldiers have been eliminated or arrested and there are only two combatants – the President of Russia vs. the German Commander. President Grishin is exhausted and tries to play diplomat. Grishin wants to know what Müller and the German’s want. The answer is “Stalin”. The President asks a few questions and understands the time issue… The Russian President doesn’t want to fight and tries to reason with Müller that the war has been over for a very long time. The President shows the German his watch, his smart phone, his nice 21st century pistol (empty of bullets). But the German wants to fight. The climax of the film is this fight scene near the end. Müller is a crafty and worthy opponent (a German war machine) but President Grishin is victorious. He is worn and beaten but the hero of the film clearly. The President of Russia survives the Germans in the tunnel. Grishin collects his watch, smart phone and pistol from the dead German commander. The soldiers who entered the tunnel at the Kremlin, early in the film, arrive but the fighting is over. This was a monumental battle waged in the tunnel… finally it appears complete. The security detail begins to hustle Grishin off back through the tunnel but he stops them. He asks for some water; he washes the blood and dirt off his face. Grishin notices a doorway with light streaming under it and there are shadows of people walking. President Grishin takes this door and walks out into the public Metro… he immediately boards a car and the passengers applaud. The people have been watching it all on TV and on their smart phones. Russian progress! President Grishin rides without security back to the Lenin Library Metro station. THE END

METRO2 MOSCOW