Last Signal

This is an overlooked little gem of a film.

Film director Dmitry Kiselyov brings what looks and feels like a multi million dollar production to the screen despite the seemingly low budget

The editing and flow between the early on action is incredible and looks like it was done in one shot. No doubt CGI was involved but it was seamless.

The main characters are excellent and believable. Veronika Ustimova (who plays Valeria "Lera" Arabova) is reported as 'not having any acting abilities'. Wrong!! She is fantastic in this film and hopefully will go on to have a great career.

I'll certainly be scouring the streaming services for other titles.

Mira disaster film shot in Russia. And this is one of the first catastor films shot in Russia, after watching which it is not ashamed. Mira really looks decent, a good CGI for its budget, no "Hollywood" pathos and a simple straightforward plot. Yes, the first third of the film in everything is trying to imitate the Hollywood films of its genre. Yes, there is no star cast here, even by Russian standards. And as in any film, the catastrophe here is a makimally delusional plot. But Mira is simply pleasant to watch without a sense of shame, which is already rare for a Russian cinematographer, to whom the Kino Foundation is involved. I can only advise everyone to watch the film, Dmitry Kiselev has been making a very worthy film 2 times. Yes, The Age of Pioneers is far away, but there is a different budget.

MIRA is somewhat of an unexpected thing to behold. While the story is a bit of a knockoff of the Emmerich formula (family, drama, calamity, spectacle, and family), the attention to detail and overall execution is something else, indeed.

There are sequences in this film that are truly remarkable in every aspect, rivalling some of the best Hollywood has ever brought forth. The camera work, the production design, the acting (including the extras) and the VFX in the impact sequence are quite extraordinary, and the more realistic approach results in a fresh new way of witnessing a terrifying disaster.

I really have to stress again how amazing many of the visual effects really are: not flashy and rubbery like so many things we get to see from much bigger films, but seamless and believable. I really wonder how they pulled of a lot of shots that seem like practical effects, which of course they can't be.

Don't expect a perfect film, though. Especially in the third act, the film loses much of its realism and also goes into full cheese mode, but the good aspects easily prevail, at least for me. And so the verdict comes easy: if you're a sci-fi buff like me, you need to watch this.

Plot: 5/10. Cheesy and unrealistic, a mix between Deep Impact and Geostorm, yet entertaining, although the third act is a bit weak.

Direction and photography: 9/10. Very well made film, with beautiful photography and superb one-shot scenes.

CGI: 9/10. Better than some recent Marvel/DC movies. Close to Gravity. Not a CGI-fest where the plot is driven by special effects.

Acting: 7/10? I've seen the spanish dub, which I think is pretty good. I can't tell about the russian or english dub, so...

In conclusion, a Hollywood's Sci-Fi blockbuster made in Russia, with little to no patriotism. Definitely I recommend it.

Mira/The Last Signal has the best special effects I have seen.

C. G. I. was never detectable to me.

Almost the whole movie was special effects made from the viewer perspective such that you felt involved yourself when there was action.

The attention to detail was high.

Scene after scene appeared at a breathtaking rate during action segments, and it was astounding how they could make so many scenes with such difference, detail, and quality.

The plot, although done before, was saved by an original idea about communication.

One must wonder if politics can be used to explain the omission of Oscar nomination.