Major Grom: Plague Doctor Plot Synopsis
Major Grom: Plague Doctor is a Russian action film that takes tried and tested tropes from various superhero pictures and combines them. The result is a refreshingly original and utterly familiar take on the genre.
At the heart of it is police detective Igor Grom, who is synonymous with preventing crimes by any means necessary. Unfortunately, this also leads to Igor being distracted by his own police force after some heavy lifting.
However, the rise of a mysterious masked vigilante known as the Plague Doctor is the opposite. When this vigilante goes on a killing spree, society turns to him with the promise of taking out the upper echelons of society. This forces Igor and his new assistant Dima to try to stop him before it's too late.
What is the Plague Doctor's motivation?
Plague Doctor plays on the crooked judicial system to turn society on his side. Following the massacre of various power players around Russia, the popularity of the plague doctor is rapidly increasing online via the Zmeste social network.
During the final shootout, the Town Doctor convinces many of the rioters to pick up where he left off. He is at the end of his rope and about to be stopped, but is determined to be a martyr. He convinces them that it's the right thing to do, as they also wear medical masks before hitting the streets.
The Plague Doctor actually manipulates all these people, hating the "lowlifes" and the rich with the intention of killing two birds with one stone.
Who is the plague doctor?
Throughout the film, we believe that Sergey is the right-hand man of the killer Oleg. In fact, Oleg is actually just a hallucination.
All this time, Sergei imagined his childhood friend as a masked vigilante. Oleg died again in the Syrian war, which of course affected him very badly.
In fact, Sergey seems to be suffering from schizophrenia. He completes himself with darkened eyes and pulls the strings. It is the physical manifestation of his own dark persona that has been projected in this unusual version of his friend for a very long time. When he dons the plague doctor outfit himself, Sergei transforms into his darker, more irrational self.
Is Sergey caught in the end?
St. Petersburg erupts into riots and flames as Oleg leaves the police force and a plague doctor descends on the city. The Plague Doctor climbs the ropes, but with the help of Grom and his band of merry misfits, they manage to capture him.
There is a moment when Grom imagines pushing Sergey off the top of this tall building, but when guerrilla blogger-reporter Yuliya Pchelkina writes down Sergey's confession, she thinks twice.
With Sergey behind bars, the authorities are promising major changes and an overhaul of the judicial system for fairness. As they do this, Grom and Yulia sit on a rooftop and discuss what it really means to be a hero. Here, the film's motive to stop the villains from being a true act of heroism is demonstrated. It's a beautiful moment and reinforces that you don't always need superpowers to do the right thing.
Is there a post-credits scene?
During this epilogue, Sergey is being held in an insane asylum. Sergey's hideous personality is revealed behind him with shiny black wings and a maniacal grin. He whispers in Sergey's ear and promises that they will be freed soon. If so, could it set up another confrontation between Grom and Sergey?