Guardians (2017 American release)

A big budget Russian superhero film very much in the style of Marvel's Avengers had the internet buzzing for a while. It turns out it is very much an attempt to ape the American blockbuster model and unfortunately, like its inspirations, it doesn't live up to the hype.

There is a lot going for Guardians. The story, while basic, is strong enough to carry the film and the characters, again a bit archetypal, are geeky cool.  It is visually impressive for the budget it has, and the cast give earnest performances which don't tend towards to much camp. In fact, the film seems to hit most of the right beats and I generally enjoyed what I was watching most of the time.

I think the real problem with Guardians, which wasn't well received even back home in Russia, is that the "superhero movie" has moved on from what Guardians is doing. The proliferation of the genre has forced it to grow up. They are more complex and audiences are becoming more demanding. So something like Guardians, which does err on the side of the simplistic, feels a bit cheap. Russians watch the same Hollywood films we all do so they likely feel similarly to us.

I kept hoping there would be something "Russian" about the film, something that would make it feel unique or different, something that would distinguish it from the abundance of western blockbusters. But other than surface stuff, it truly didn't feel different. Perhaps that's another disappointment for audiences in Russia and abroad, that it just felt like a copy, and not an innovative one.

So over all I didn't dislike Guardians, but it didn't thrill me enough to care. And other than introducing me to hot Kazakhstani actor Sanjar Madi, the film was relatively generic.

Guardians
Starring: Sebastien Sisak, Anton Pampushnyy, Alina Lanina, Sanjar Madi, Valeriya Shkirando
Director: Sarik Andressyan
Writer: Andrei Gavrilov