[1][2] The film opens in Moscow with Danila Bagrov (Sergei Bodrov Jr.) and two of his friends from the army, Ilya Setevoy (Kirill Pirogov) and Konstantin "Kostya" Gromov (Alexander Dyachenko), being interviewed on TV about their service in the First Chechen War.
That evening, Danila stops by Kostya's apartment to discover him shot dead and decides to help his twin brother.
Danila and Dasha, who were deliberately late, manage to quickly go through the procedures and board a plane, which immediately flies to Moscow.
During filming, the heavy truck was driven by actor Ray Toler himself, who later recalled this as the hardest role in his life.
[5] Before filming Danila's fight in the Chicago ghetto, Balabanov asked the two black actors to hit Bodrov harder so that everything would look natural.
Initially, the scene in which Bagrov comes with Ilya and Kostya to the Ostankino television center and then gives an interview was supposed to be filmed in the studio of the Vzglyad program.
He promised to help the filmmakers organize filming, but then unexpectedly refused to participate in the project the day before and did not provide them with a studio.
Ultimately, it was decided to film the scene in the studio of the V mire lyudey program of the TV-6 channel with Ivan Demidov starring as the presenter.
[7] The film's soundtrack consists of popular songs from contemporary Russian and Ukrainian rock artists, such as Splean, Bi-2, Zemfira, Smyslovye Gallyutsinatsii, Chicherina, Okean Elzy and Nautilus Pompilius.
Natural environment has gone - the alleys of Saint Petersburg, the bazaar on the Sennaya Square - a spot-on depiction of the new times.
«Immorality» that served as the main attraction in Brother, paradoxically combining the frankness of Komsomol with zombie-like killings, is also gone.
What's left is spirituality: the Orthodox values, «The power is not in the money, but in the truth», violence - not because it's as easy as brushing teeth, but because there's injustice in the world - and thus one must fight ... A strong movie, not boring to watch.
Aleksei Balabanov makes films the only way possible: like we are living in a healthy country that produces 150 movies yearly.
And while it's not true, and there's a clean field around him, and he is taken almost for a savior who carries his cross alone, we should react to this film adequately: calmly, without hysterics, just like a normal cinema requires.
'[8] 'Our answer to James Bond and other "anti-Soviet Cinema",’ “Brother 2” was ‘ideological...playing ‘to the fears of its national audience...the first manifestation of Russia's new snobbery towards the US,’ the Itogi weekly's reviewer wrote.
For example, the semi-criminal portrayal of the African American community, the deceiving Russian-American Jew (who sells a bad car) and the Ukrainian mafia.
The latter criticism in particular often refers to the toilet scene when Viktor finishes off his opponents in cold blood remarking: "You bitches will answer to me for Sevastopol!"
[13] Yet later on he hinted at a possible third part while answering a comment on the official Brother website which suggested to "send Danila to the Second Chechen War and kill him".
He said that he had long planned the sequel and was full of ideas for the new story which had been rejected by Balabanov during his lifetime, including Viktor being broken out of an American prison by Mexicans and returning to St. Petersburg in an oil trawler.
[18] In 2019, it was reported in Russian media that musician and showman Stanislav Baretsky was planning to shoot Brother 3 with a completely new crew and cast, including ex-prisoners.
[25] In June 2022, Pereverzev said that Baretsky's idea turned out to be a "dastardly fake" that got out of control, which confused many about who was making the film.