Hey dudes, this is my first real attempt at a "video essay" type of content and it took me a ton of research and effort. I hope u like and if u do smash like so I'll do more interesting ones about Russia or something EDIT: A bunch of comments here are saying “Niko is Serbian though, not Russian”. I’ve never said Niko was Russian lmao, I thought him being Serbian isn’t even worth mentioning because everybody knows it. Still, I said that he’s a Bosnian War veteran, which I think makes it pretty obvious that he isn’t Russian. I talked about the 90s in Russia to bring context to the movies, not to imply that it has something to do with Niko

GTA Vice City = Scarface GTA San Andreas = Menace II Society GTA IV = Brat GTA V = Heat

GTA V: Come on, just load already. GTA IV: No, keep loading, I wanna hear more of this music.

"Are you gangsters?" "No. We are Russians."

If they did GTA IV today, Vladivostok FM would play Hard bass.

*Soviet Connection* is the best loading screen song along with San Andreas.

You saying "bad american businessman" with such a sarcasm Let me count bad russian guys in american films

As a Turkish, I learned the Brat series from my Kazakh friend who was exchange military student in Turkish Naval Academy. After we watched the movies, I’m still listening Brat soundtracks. Especially, Bi 2 songs. Too emotional, intense and atmospheric songs dude.

Rest in Peace Sergey Bodrov and film crew.We will always remember you.

How NFKRZ was inspired by Roman Bellic

Niko grew up in Yugoslavia (SERBIA) , where he fought in the Yugoslav Wars. He later worked for organized crime syndicates as a hired-gun in Liberty City. Ever since the Yugoslav Wars ended, Niko's main goal in life was to find and kill one of two men: Florian Cravic or Darko Brevic, for one of them betrayed and nearly killed him during the Wars. Niko is the younger cousin of Roman Bellic and the son of Milica Bellic.

Love how he used "Gruppa Krovi" as background music, best Russian song i ever heard 👍

why do you have the old NFKRZ accent from 2016 in this video haha

More videos like this please. Much better than “this person is cringe” or “look at this KZfaq drama.”

Respect for this man for putting Viktor Tsoi's Gruppa Grovi in the background.

GTA IV has a more grounded story that immerses you into feeling like you are part of the dark criminal underbelly of Liberty City, where as in GTA V it's a more of a really good action movie with over the top scenes that work really well in a video game format.

I moved from Russia to US in early 2000s and when I first played GTA4 it really reminded me of Russia's 90-2000s... that radio station was really cool. The game definitely has a lot of similarities with БРАТ movies. For Russian people reading this comment "Мы русские не обманываем друг друга!" PS. Most Russian people who live in US are sort of stuck in time - they still listen to old russian music and celebrate russian holidays etc. i find it interesting.

The writers at Rockstar Games are like Quentin Tarantino of video games they pay homage to classics

Imagine in some beautiful world where Vlad accepted to play Niko Bellic in a sequel. What a beautiful world...

But Niko is Serbian, and speaks Serbian, with Russian accent for some reason

"Володя, Ты проебался!!!"

Can you make a second channel that just teaches us westerners Russian history.

Hey NFKRZ, found your channel through Bald and Bankrupt. Since you did a GTA IV video I figured I would give you some more behind the scenes info as to how R* works. I was a former employee between 2014-2016 on the cutscene animation team. (Sorry I'm late, went through your older videos) Essentially, the Houser Bros have their hands in everything relating to game production. They play the games, change the gameplay, and Dan Houser and a few other writers write the game script. They have an entire team of researchers dedicated to making each game feel authentic to the time period and culture they are trying to portray. These researchers have libraries and libraries of content that they use to find as much information about something as they can. I have seen the researchers use History channel and hundreds of reference books to get information. There is a high chance that the researchers, writing team, and Dan himself most likely watched the movies or the movies were recommended to them when doing their research. These guys go incredibly deep and detail when gathering background info which is why Red Dead Redemption feels authentic to the time period. Since they were covering a character from Eastern Europe, R* pooled all their resources to get as much authentic information as they possibly could. But not everything carries over in translation, like when the girl said she removed most of the songs they had selected. Sorry I'm late with the reply but I hope that helps shed some interesting information for you.

The dude who Niko is inspired by is so humble

Could you please do why Gta San Andreas was inspired by the bible?

Brat is actually a fantastic movie to watch

I always thought Niko looked like that dude from Behind Enemy Lines...

Still playing in 2019. GTA IV is the best GTA ever made. The story is beyond a movie. The details are stunning. One of the best games ever made.

Ролик очень качественный, уважение за проделанную работу. Кстати "круглый" в английских субтитрах распознался как "krug lee")

I fuckin knew it, I told every I knew who played GTA4 that Niko looked exactly like the Russian freelancer from Behind Enemy Lines, I fuckin knew it! Get up get out!

8:00 another direct parallel is Niko only went after Vlad because it’s pretty much A parent/confirmed he was messing around with Malorie

Rated M, for Masterpiece.

Ein, Zwei, Drei Schicki Schicki schweine

One of your first vids I have seen in a WHILE absolute masterpiece

This must be one of your most interesting videos. So great! Please do more.

seen/watched dozens of facts and trivias vids of GTA4. and THIS is the 1st vid in years ( that I watched ) that tells me the existince of Brat and Brat2 and the game inspirations. I honestly did not know. Amazing how literally no one mention this for years. anyway good video and I am entertained. thank you and you got a sub

This game has only 1 negative aspect about its spot: *it finishes*

Niko! It’s your cousin. _Lets go bowling._

To be fair to the actor that turned down the Niko role - they probably didn't tell him what game he'd be working on - Rockstar do that to avoid leaks etc. For instance, the actor for Arthur for RDR2 wasn't told what game he was doing the motion capture + voice acting of until a few weeks of shooting.

Great video, thought that idea as well by myself couple of months ago when i replayed GTAIV

I remember playing GTA IV before I graduated high school (which was around the time the game came out) and well into my first half of college. It was also that time I discovered Russian movies (the first I watched was my library's copy of Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin). Брат and Брат 2 came up on my radar but I could never find it. As I played more GTA IV, my obsession to find the movies grew stronger and stronger. I finally found the first one three or four years later (well after I stopped playing GTA IV) and the second one a year after that. Great movies to watch (though not my favorite films from Russia) but it was obvious there were homages paid to the Брат movies. Also, 4 will always be my favorite GTA! Спасибо NFKRZ!!!

Make Vladivostok FM great again

03:51 Ooooo shout out for the Big L reference

Great job on this video. Learned a lot & enjoy your channel. & you’re right, the songs missing in Vladivostok FM, it’s just not the same. Restarting the game & hearing that first track, OMG hyped me up. Now with the replacement songs, it’s like WHAT...... nooooooooo. The two songs that’s added by Seryoga are decent but King Ring is my jam. Glad I downloaded Vladivostok FM album when it was on iTunes.

Having a trip to NYC for the first time and walking in Brighton beach for me was like "Hey, I've already been here", thanks to the game:) especially I was very astounded by seeing those railways up above and taking a look inside the " Saint Petersburg" store that was present in "Brat 2", childhood dream came true

Grand Theft Russia

3:43 Когда встретил знакомую речь в чужой стране!

3:45 he didnt take the L, wouldve loved to see him in a future game abt Niko Bellic but the voice actor of Niko only got 100k for his role even tho gta 4 was a massive success..

The soundtrack was fantastic but it didn't have any Lil Vodka smh

I'm a Serb my slavic cousin.

While Michael Hollick was working on GTA 4, Vladimir Mashkov played the main role in TV series called "Liquidation". This role is one of his best roles, and the movie itself is one of the best in post-soviet countries. So, he didnt lose much

DAmn, the car (in that first mission) is even based on that movie, great video ! GTA IV is best GTA

*niko bellic drop out serbia to save the gta game*

What a coincidence! I was looking up some stuff about Russia and remembered GTA IV due to the Russian influence despite the fact that Niko is most likely Serbian.

For some reason this video didn't pop up in my subscription feed so I see it a month late but anyways, great video man these take a lot of work damn.

Great video man, was cool to see where the inspiration came from

As a german with russian root, I totaly agree on this. Spasibo schto ti takoi clip sdelol!. Nun werde ich GTA IV erneut durchspielen können! And both of the films were briliant. RIP Bodrov.

Niko is like the 2nd most famous serbian in history after nikola tesla and idk if thats sad or good

I've just watched Brat and Brat 2, they are amazing movies!!! Thanks for recommending it Roman!!!

Found your channel thanks to bald, but damn your content is amazing. Great video essay here too. Much love bro

Niko is Serbian right ??

Roman, the effort u put in this video payed off, this is the best gta iv video i have ever seen, i have never seen something that interesting and informative about ma fav gta. I wish u’ll upload more stuff like this.

You're not insane man. Definitely inspired by those films. And Rockstar has entire teams to research things exactly like these, so anything else would have to be like the biggest coincidence of the century

GTA IV is my second favorite GTA game, only behind San Andreas. I still have GTA IV on Xbox 360.

Это уровень, чувак, это прям уровень. Шикарный видос. Шикарное пояснение, видеоряд, повествование, всё шикарно. Только коммунизм был целью ссср, а существовавший режим был социализмом. Я конечно понимаю, ты это возможно специально сказал, ведь капиталистические братья не шарят в этом, но всё же можно было и пожертвовать 10 секундами, чтобы сказать правильнее. А так десяточка

13:10 She selected Ranetki as a piece of the soundtrack...

Great video. Now I'm curious to see both movies later..... on the internet. 😁

4:18 Gotta love that song playing in the background. Группа крови by Виктор Цой (КИНО) Good music my guy

without USSR there would not be gta4

GTA 4 is the best GTA. You can't change my mind.

Niko:I ain't Russian. Store owner : speaks russian

This video is what introduced me to NFKRZ. Was one of the most interesting videos I had seen in a while

This is by far the best video you’ve made, I’m blown away by it. Kickass job dude!

I loved this style of video, you really nailed it! It's clear you put a lot of effort and research into this, and it was a really interesting watch

Great essay! Please do more like this!

When I play GTA IV I imidiatly remember you. You are the perfect person to comment this Game. When I start to watch this Video I thought: Perfect! I knew it this guy should do a comentary about GTA 4 and he did it! Nice review.

GTA IV Was actually created when two gopniks went to a Saint Petersburg bowling alley

OMG, The Brother 1 is amazing russian version of Max Payne!

and i always thought niko was modelled after jason statham...

You get a big fat like for the background music, RIP Viktor Zoi

GTA 4 is the best. The story, character and time is great. Damn I wish I could go back to 2008.

definately gonna check out both Brat films now and excellent video my friend.

Bro your videos are the best :) Niko needs to make a comeback!

The soundtrack to this video (drawing on the films and other sources) is banging.

The thing about Rockstar Games castings is that they keep it extremely sectretive and don't even tell the actor WHAT they're working on,game or movie,only the script is shown. The Russian guy probably didnt' even know it was GTA 4

Nfkrz is really good at video game essays

Thanks for introducing me to those amazing films. Sad the main actor have already passed away. RIP The legend Sergei Bodrov Jr.

Liked and subscribed! I got into the two movies you mentioned and hope you keep posting more stuff like this. Edit: I'm having trouble locating the sequel with english subtitles. Anyone know where to find it?

Roman, have you ever seen the Bosnian film No Man’s Land? It’s a very interesting film that is similar to what you talk about and I think you should give it a look

Excellent presentation, I must say. Some of the details I didn't even notice myself before.

5:51 I remember my dad grounding me because i was laughing way to loud and he came in to check

As someone who has never even heard of the Brat movies, has next to no knowledge of Russian culture, and has only just started playing GTA IV for the first time ever I definitely see where you are coming from. I am not that far in but I can already see the similarities you pointed out. Very good analysis!

Зачем нужно жрать капусту? Если есть картошка!!

GTA 4 was also inspired by some Russian gangster who lived in NY and worked briefly as a cabdriver. He became a hitman and career criminal

Very interesting video. Great job 👍

3:52 Grupa Krovi starts playing... the best song in Radio Vladivostok :D

NFKRZ's American accent didn't just die, it was murdered.

Огромное спасибо за данное видео, я как счастлив что ты рассказал об этом западным зрителям об этом

I'm trying to learn russian, and learning a bit more about culture, music and movies is really cool. Aweseome video. Спасибо большое!

I actually watched both Брат and Брат 2 and they were really good movies, loved every second of them