75
Christian Science Monitor by David Sterritt
Lounguine tells the story with more discipline than you'll find in his earlier films, painting a crowded portrait of a society moving toward a future it can neither confidently predict nor look forward to with anything but nervous anticipation.
70
Variety by Deborah Young
A savvy, fast-paced political thriller dealing with the meteoric rise and fall of a new Russian businessman.
20
Washington Post by Desson Thomson
The movie covers too much ground with too little detail. It manages to be convoluted, complicated, incomprehensible and maddeningly thin all at the same time.
75
New York Daily News by Jack Mathews
With more than a passing nod to the Hollywood mob movie, Pavel Lounguine ("Luna Park") crafts this superb post-Soviet "Godfather" movie loosely based on the exploits of bad boy billionaire Boris Berezovsky.
70
TV Guide Magazine by Maitland McDonagh
The flashback structure drains the story of momentum, but Mashkov and Uchaineshvili portray the reptilian glamour of cultured thugs with frightening intensity.
20
Village Voice by Michael Atkinson
Though a relatively sober essay on criminal organization, Tycoon is also thoroughly pulpy -- that is, crass, unimaginative, corner-cutting, and simplistic, with the visual vocabulary of daytime soap.
50
The A.V. Club by Noel Murray
While the players are circling and silently sizing each other up, the audience may find itself straining to look around them, to see the history they're blocking.
40
The New Republic by Stanley Kauffmann
We become so distracted by the jigsaw effect that soon we are more concerned with the assemblage itself than with what it is about.
60
The New York Times by Stephen Holden
For all its energy and fine acting, Tycoon has a frustrating lack of narrative coherence.
25
New York Post by V.A. Musetto
Wait for the video, then fast-forward through every scene except the ones featuring Maria Mironova as a cheating wife.