The film also has a fantastic score, great cinematography, and amazing visuals. Some action sequences towards the end are incredible. It is, however, very different to most sci-fi films out there and non-stop entertainment. 'The Blackout' is not the most fast-paced sci-fi film and might disappoint in that regard. I also found it difficult deciding who the actual protagonist is. He is a passive, almost insignificant character. Despite being so powerful, Ra is easily overwhelmed by Id and a handful of humans. (Some might consider this blasphemous, referring to the sun god Ra). Its not always clear why he decided to betray his kind and offered his assistance to the humans, apart from the fact that he needs a human to find Ra, who controls the People. Once Id (Artyom Tkachenko) arrives, the film shifts significantly. The film has a very exciting opening scene, and then remains mysterious and atmospheric well after they halfway mark. 'The Blackout' has a very clear message about humanity's destructive inclinations, and an interesting way of conveying this message. Nevertheless, it's a well deserved 8/10 for this epic Ruskie sci-fi flick. I liked this film, but I really wanted to love it. The concept of the story was different in a clever and unique way, and that's refreshing. The cinematography was great, and the sound/score on point. The visuals and SFX were outstanding, and the ship and its inside on par in creativeness and originality with Hollywood blockbusters. Cutting/editing it down to 90 minutes would've been perfect for this film, and done it so much justice. There was just way too much filler, for the little substance that was stretched out to its 127 mins runtime. Although the pacing was decent, those terrible scenes made this film feel dragged out and felt like it was more than 3 hours long. I'm no filmmaker, but if someone gave me this screenplay, I would've rid it of some major plot and technical issues, and had at least 30 minutes cutting here and there, particularly the many unnecessary, long, and repetitive scenes. What was good could've so easily been grand, and that's what failed this film, and that's a real shame. But don't expect a clean, air-tight experience from the script or direction. So, if you are looking for a different non-Hollywood movie, this is a good one to see. Again, huh? So where is this supposed to go, they have no idea what these kids are going to eat, or if they'll be just as dangerous as their adult counterparts. The weird vag-faced children all awaken, cut to the end credits. Huh? Wouldn't there be a crew on that ship to not only make sure the area was secured, but that the occupants were protected? So the survivors go onto the ship, start killing the occupants, but then stop as soon as they see the kids. Eventually they kill the guy who helped them, but then a ship lands and just sits there. But then after they kill him, they start fighting each other. The showdown between the two alien creatures was confusing enough, the explanations as to how Earth would be saved by killing the other bad alien who was controlling all the 'dead people', was also confusing. The other problem with the movie is the ending. It's almost as if it was made to be a 7 episode series of 1 hour episodes, and was edited down to 2 hrs. It may have been a few scenes later, but that's the problem with the film, it's hard to get a sense of the passage of time with the jumps. But it almost felt like the next scene he was back in the thick of the battle. One big example was one character had to be flown out of the battle zone, and head back to Moscow to recover from his injury. This movie keeps jumping ahead without warning, or meaningful transitions, making it awkward to watch at times and confusing. I would say on level of some Hollywood TV movies.īut.one problem with this movie is the time jumps. The action sequences and special effects are fairly decent. The version I saw was an english dub, and the voices really didn't feel like they matched the actors, so if you can seek out the original language version, that might enhance the viewing experience. This one kind of was, but the ending I guess was 'hopeful'? I've seen a few dramas, and they were usually pretty bleak. I was curious to see what a Russian scifi movie would be like.
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