An adventure film, with dramatic and thriller elements set against the backdrop of palaces and the noble view of the Russian capital, the movie centers on Yakovlev, a retired officer, who returns to St. Petersburg from a long exile.

The movie goes back to the novels of City mysteries, popular in the middle of the 19th century (the most famous example - Les Vrais Mystères de Paris (1844) by Eugène François Vidocq).

[6] In preparation for filming, Alex Mizgirev reviewed the movie The Duellists directed by Ridley Scott (1977) and loosely based on the novel by Joseph Conrad's Duel, which, in turn, was inspired by Alexander Pushkin's The Shot.

[3] Anton Dolin noted the uniqueness of the genre of "the most intriguing of the Russian film of the year", where Saint Petersburg is represented as "city of permanent flooding", rain-drenched and mud; in this respect it resembles the works of steampunk London.

According to Dolin, it is extremely rare in post-Soviet Russia the sample quality mainstream and the first ever Russian blockbuster, has earned a solid "five": at an altitude here and casting, and "brutal-rock" music, and "noble-monochrome" movie.

According to conclusion written by Andrey Plakhov: "Mizgiryov with his usual taste for brutalism produces big-budget costume author noir genre and esthetic at the same time: Petersburg is buried in dirt, the Grand Duchess sleeps with cynical mercenary and Russian nobles, who boast of a code of honor, behave if it 'brother "dashing nineties", or thugs, adventurers in the Wild West".

[11] The Hollywood Reporter's Leslie Felperin found the film as appropriate to compare to the "universal for any country story about social mobility issues, honor and militarism" with classic westerns, though lamented the technical imperfections ("in IMAX some of the frames darker look videotaped").