Chernovik

The main character starts off doing well but things start to go a bit wrong as the plot develops. From the start, a Sci-Fi film is revealed.

There's an annoying blonde in the film who is integral to the story, acting like a nemesis to the main character. She's fairly wooden in acting ability but also needed to counter the 'hero'.

The first half of the film is damn good. Has some decent action, visual effects and a good sense of direction. If the film had stayed on this course, it could've quite easily scored 8 or more as it really entertains.

However, the second part of the film is just odd, muddled, and let's the film down. The point of the plot, characters, etc, are just thrown away. Yes there are more action scenes but they seem to be sprinkled into the film at random.

Overall, this isn't a stinker as many other reviews seem to point out, but it does suffer from a weak second half.

I gave this film a chance, it took me a while to absorb the story and the theme, or the theme in general. To begin with, I have to write about the good sides of this film, and that is the theme, which is unique and has its own originality, that is actually the only good thing in this film. And now what I don't like. The actors do their work stiffly and unimpressively. The visual and audio performance is below average, some visual effects are good, but some are like watching a theater play (the moment when you know that the stone is made of cardboard in some scenes). Although the original and potentially interesting theme here is so sketchy, full of holes, inexplicable and stupid situations, almost the entire film you are lost and not in a positive way. Another major problem of this film is the duration of the film, the topic is big and there is a lot to process and process, show and explain, in this film it is all packed into a short period of time and in a hurry, and that is never good. Sometimes it's sad when someone discovers something new, something original and of great potential, and then it's not shown properly on the screen to the viewer.

I know nothing of the books, but shouldn't need to if the script was tight. It was not.

The main character's bizarre obsession with one woman and seemingly effortless adjustment to his new surreal job and surroundings had me rewinding several times, certain I'd missed something that explained what was happening.

I had not.

Also, none of the frequent Russian text displayed on the screen is translated, which is super annoying.

Don't let a few interesting visuals in the previews fool you. The rest are embarrassingly bad.

This film is ambitious but falls far short it has to be said.

Based on a Russian book, which as far as I'm aware is not around in the English world, its another one multiverse movie. Ready Player One and others have been heavily influenced by tech and popular science books that have been popularising this area.

What we have here is really a Russian super games programmer who one day finds that he has been erased from the real world and trapped in a virtual world etc etc. Its not really worth explaining more. It ain't the Matrix and closer to Notting Hill! 20 years ago if this was being made it would have starred Hugh Grant in some English language remake.

It's beautifully made, often too self indulgent, and that's all that's good about it. It's quite a boring film. The only character of any interest is just indeciperhable. I can remember the actress from Babylon Berlin, and her character & look is 100% the same. Very unoriginal.

This film tries but misses the mark across the board. Apparently there could be more to come, but I think it is best to cut the losses here. A waste of time.

...as intention. Because , it has beautiful premises, an interesting story and a lot of CGI effects. And a nice cast. But, scene by scene, it becomes a montagne russe. From the high level to the down. Once. And again. The best part- the resurrection of the memories about fairy tales. Including Russian . The worlds, the order keeper, the fundamental change of life - a fear of each from us- are good points . But the problem becomes with the wrong use of obsessive love story. Sure, Dante and Beatrice or, maybe,"What Dreams may Come". But the entire architecture of film is brocked. Sure, a seductive idea with high potential. But not enough for be credible. And real seductive.