Sputnik

This really surprised me in a positive way! I can always enjoy films with an extraterrestrial theme, so the initial trailers for Sputnik caught my interest right away. For a Russian film, it's technically almost flawless; it matches or sometimes even surpasses its American genre counterparts in terms of audiovisual quality. Sputnik managed to captivate me with its interesting idea of an alien living in symbiosis with its host (which has a slight resemblance to the facehugger from Scott’s Alien). I appreciated the idea involving cortisol within endocrinology (this script choice pleasantly surprised me). Of course, in the span of two hours, there’s quite a bit of "filler" material that only serves to extend the runtime; personally, I would have cut about 20 minutes. Otherwise, there’s minimal action, but what is there is well-shot, quite clear, and reasonably brutal (they don’t skimp on the blood). It’s not a perfect piece, but within its genre, it definitely belongs to the upper tier. For me, it’s 7.5/10. (07/19/2021)

A solid Russian sci-fi film with a nice main monster. After crashing in orbit, a cosmonaut brings back something alien from outer space and is imprisoned, examined and tested. At first glance the film seemed like it was going to be a rip-off of Alien, but the Russians go their own way and it's fine. The film is suspenseful and atmospheric rather than action packed (three scenes had me holding my breath nicely), and there was some gore, with one scene being downright delicious – I watched it three times immediately. The film is of course also on a great technical level, the thumping music is excellent, which adds to the cramped atmosphere, and I enjoyed the actors as well. Similarly-tuned genre films come out once a year with luck, so despite the minor flaws (the creature could have done more mischief) I'm happy with this one. Story***, Action***, Humor>No, Violence***, Entertainment****, Music****, Visuals****, Atmosphere****, Suspense****.7.5/10. (05/21/2020)

Sputnik is an American-style science fiction horror film with a pseudo-alien at a military research station in the Kazakh desert (set in 1983), conceived by the Russians as a human drama about a parasite-afflicted cosmonaut and the scientist who wants to help him because she has fallen in love with him. But with American-style visuals, genre clichés and archetypal characters that we already know from elsewhere (the inhumane colonel in command, the enthusiastic scientist with a conscience, etc.). The production is okay and the actors are fine, but the viewing experience is unsurprising and a bit yawn-inducing. (10/11/2020)

I enjoyed this film about a Soviet encounter with a space parasite (or symbiote) a lot. I managed to see past the logic holes this time, thus being able to enjoy the whole thing without suffering any cultural shock from not hearing the otherwise ubiquitous English. Plus, to my surprise, I found that I didn't need subtitles all that much, I even sometimes noticed inaccuracies in them. So, for various reasons, I'm giving it four stars. (08/12/2020)