Skvoz vremya

The whole movie has a stilted quality like anime or a video game cutscene. This could have been an interesting stylistic choice, but instead I'm pretty sure it's not intended. Much of it is due to the bad voice-over. It seems the movie was made for an English audience (the actors are mouthing English), but I think each actor's voice was redubbed. Poorly.

Then there's the cartoonishly stereotyped characters, and overused plot devices. It's not predictable so much as derivative.

Buoying all this up is some pretty decent production value. Sets and props are detailed and believable, cinematography and lighting are quite attractive. And Underneath it all is a fairly interesting story if you can get past the god-awful over-dubbing. And the god-awful MacGuffin name "quantanium".

I'm really surprised by all the poor reviews in here. Right up front, this is not a "great" movie. I had doubts when I started it. Dubbing is, meh? Ok. Russian is hard to overdub to. I almost turned it off after 15 minutes or so, but it drew me in. Finally! A movie with a new storyline. One I hadn't come across before. It jumps back and forth in timelines, but in a very different way. It isn't the easiest movie to "follow", but that's OK. Think "Primer" or "Time Crimes". It's made on a smaller budget so don't expect HUGE CGI scenes. I found it quite entertaining. Others might not. But it is fresh, and worth a watch..

Granted, the film suffers from a lack of budget and the voice dubbing (at least the French version) is of mediocre quality (but you get used to that in the end). The script often lacks credibility (for example, when a character is hit from behind, and gets up without trying to find out who hit him...). The background to the story isn't entirely original, and some of the plot elements are hackneyed. OK, OK. But if you make the effort to follow the first 45 minutes (i.e. With your smartphone switched off - this isn't a Facebook-compatible flick), the film gradually gains in depth and interest grows exponentially. It's an atypical science fiction film, or rather a typically Eastern European one, in the vein of the Polish or Russian science fiction writers of the 50s and 60s. Cerebral writing tinged with poetry, lyricism and romanticism.

Despite all its faults, which I don't dispute, I had a much more enjoyable and satisfying time watching it than I did watching The Rise of Skywalker. Not difficult, you might say. True, but ...

While lacking mind-blowing visuals and unforgettable characters, this Russian sci-fi offers a decent escape from the unwatchable horror of Hollywood productions like Avengers. It might not be a masterpiece, but it steers clear of the insult-to-watcher level, making it a sensible choice for those craving a more subdued sci-fi experience.

The film delivers a passable visual experience, not groundbreaking but sufficient to keep you engaged. The characters, while not iconic, manage to get the job done.

Ideal for a laid-back evening session, it's the kind of movie that's good enough to fall asleep to - a mellow alternative to the flashy spectacles Hollywood often serves up.

With due respect, enough with the 'give everything you don't like a 1-star rating' ... it does not do this movie justice. Did they even watch the movie? I've given my share of 1's ... this movie is FAR from that. OK, not a theater-level film, but it is closer to that than a 1!

So, credit where due. The first thing is the camera and scenery work: the crew obviously really knew what they were doing. Pretty good direction too; some of the shot setups were creative and kept the audience focused. The acting was spot on, to a cooky kind of script.

So it is a cooky story, but did not have any big holes. It is SciFi so a certain amount of suspension of disbelief is required, but nothing this movie doesn't handle very well. In fact if I were into the genre I would likely have rated this higher.

This one is well worth the time.