RFW-London ’17: The Guardians

In Red Prometheus, Dolores L. Augustine’s invaluable history of East German engineering, many retired researchers complained the DDR constantly demanded they reverse-engineer the latest breakthroughs imported from the West. However, by doing so, they guaranteed East German technology would never leap-frog the West. Apparently, the practice still goes on, because this Russian superhero movie is transparently reverse-engineered from The Avengers and The X-Men. It is the same general formula, but the execution is much cheesier throughout Sarik Andreasyan’s The Guardians (trailer here), which screens as part this year’s Russian Film Week in London.

During the Cold War, the super-secret SHIELD-like organization Patriot, commenced a Super-soldier project of its own. The results were initially promising, but squabbling between the project director and his Magneto-like rival August Kuratov led to the project’s closure. Forty or fifty years later, the revived Patriot agency must track-down and re-recruit their ageless test subjects to foil Kuratov’s mad scheme for world domination.

Ler is now living as a modern day Stylite in an abandoned Armenian monastery, but his powers of telekinesis remain undiminished. Khan the Kazakh has Flash-like speed, but the blades he wields make him far deadlier. The Russian Kseniya works in some kind of Cirque de Soleil show, because she has the power to turn invisible in water and to regulate her body temperature (except when she can’t), which makes her a cross between Sue Richards, the Invisible Girl and Ethel Merman. Arsus turns into a bear (sort of like Marvel’s Ursa Major).

Eventually, Major Elena Larina, the hot Nick Fury, assembles the Guardians to take on Kuratov, now decked out looking like Bane, but unfortunately, three of them are captured shortly thereafter, while poor battered Ler is left for dead. Don’t worry true believers, they still have some fight left in them, but they were never much for brains.

Andreasyan has some American credits to his name, so he has presumably seen a Marvel film or ten. Sometimes the crude Russofication is almost comical, but there is no denying the best thing about Guardians is the badass bear. Frankly, the special effects are way better than you would expect, but the script is even worse the you can imagine—except in one respect. Andreasyan and screenwriter Andrey Gavrilov wrap it up in just under ninety minutes, so spasibo for that.

This film is almost always laughable, but at least it keeps moving along. Sebastien Sisak is probably the best at doing actual acting stuff as Ler, while Sanjar Madi shows off some nice moves as Khan and Alina Lanina’s Kseniya looks a lot like Scarlett Johansson. Fortunately, Anton Pamposhnyy is often in bear-form, at least from the neck up. Frankly, The Guardians is a perfect example of why reverse-engineering guarantees you will always fall short of the targeted original. Recommended only as a cornball lark, The Guardians screens this Tuesday (11/21) during this year’s Russian Film Week in London.

RFW-London ’17: Attraction

This could be a case of karma coming back around on a galactic scale. After invading Ukraine, Russia just might find itself on the receiving end of a UFO invasion. However, the rebellious daughter of the Colonel in charge of Moscow’s defenses becomes convinced it is all a misunderstanding. In any event, Poland hopes they enjoy the resulting martial law in Fedor Bondarchuk’s Attraction (trailer here), which kicks off this year’s Russian Film Week in London.

So much for all the assurances Yulia Lebedeva’s science teacher made about the safety of meteor storms. Something else invaded Russian airspace—something big. Naturally, the Russian Air Force opens fire, sending it hurtling into Moscow’s heavily populated Chertanovo district. Frankly, there is more self-inflicted home turf destruction in Attraction than even the lame Roland Emmerich Godzilla, but of course Lebedeva’s delinquent boyfriend Artyom and his punky pals still blame the aliens.

Initially, Lebedeva blames them too, but she changes her mind when one saves her life. Instead, it will be the gawky Hekon who is badly wounded and thrown clear of his bionic bio-ware mecha suit (they sort of look like Man-Thing covered in spandex). Lebedeva will hide him from both the military and the low-life vigilantes flocking around Artyom, but he will need to retrieve a glowy thingy called “Shilk” (no articles), before he can safely leave the planet.

According to Bondarchuk, Attraction was inspired by the 2013 anti-immigrant Biryulyovo riots, which is rather surprising, considering Bondarchuk obediently signed a statement endorsing Putin’s military aggression in Ukraine. There is no question Attraction makes the Russian military look reckless and irresponsible, whereas Artyom’s “Earth Power” mob certainly suggests parallels the Pan-Slavic Russian nationalism used to justify invasions of Ukraine and Georgia.

Regardless, Oleg Menshikov is terrific as steely old Col. Lebedev. As Artyom, Alexander Petrov certainly captures the chilling self-righteousness of the hardcore activist class. Unfortunately, Irina Starshenbaum and Rinal Mukhametov have little chemistry or charisma in general as Lebedeva and Hekon. The great Sergei Garmash is also grossly under-employed as the Deputy PM, who seems to be calling all the shots in the government.

There is no question Attraction was greatly “inspired” by The Day the Earth Stood Still. Yet, on a very immediate level, it is rather encouraging to see a Russian event-movie of this scale advocating tolerance and asking questions first before shooting. The spacecraft special effects are also exponentially better than what you might expect. Unfortunately, the uneven cast gives us too many embarrassing moments worthy of the 1998 Godzilla. Still, they cannot complain, because cinematographer Mikhail Khasaya gives it a sense of scope and grandeur, while also keeping it relatively “real” looking.

Apparently, if there was a Russian Film Week this year in New York, it was drastically scaled back. Perhaps this is another way Putin’s lackeys hope to punish us for the Magnitsky Act, but it is really emerging Russian filmmakers who will suffer, without a sympathetic showcase in the media capital of the world. Interestingly, London, the home of the “Steele Dossier” was deemed A-Okay. Regardless, Attraction is a fascinating example of how genre films reflect the prevailing social neuroses, but as a viewing experience in its own right, it is a rather messy and often klutzy affair. Recommended solely as a curiosity piece, Attraction screens tomorrow (11/19), launching this year’s Russian Film Week in London.