L'éclair noir

There is not many Russian sci-fi movies. I have watched "Paragraph 78" the first part, it wasn't good. I can't recall more Russian sci-fi films, although I have watched a lot of Russian films. I was even a little bit surprised when I have seen this film, because I thought Russians don't make such sci-fi films, it's an unusual genre for a Russian film. This one is good enough, but comparing it with American movie "The Island"(of the same genre), which I liked much more, it looks mediocre. So, don't expect something outstanding.

The subject of relationship of women and superheroes isn't really anything new, we saw this many times in other movies, such as "Spiderman"(when someone other is mistaken for a hero or something, or the elaboration of some other sides of being a superhero). And so on.

After the huge disappointment of Kick-Ass, I was pleasantly surprised by this little film from Russia. Don't want to give anything away, as I watched it knowing nothing about the movie and that was the best way to watch it. Sure, it borrows heavily from other hero movies, but the acting and the old fashioned heroics were enjoyable.

Special effects I found to be excellent, especially some of the smoke trails. The bad guy in this movie is the same bad guy from the Nightwatch/Daywatch movies, also highly recommended.

If you want to chuckle a bit, and have a few moments where you smile and murmur "Cool!", and want to root for the good guy to win the girl in the end, then I can recommend this movie.

A flying Volga? Right, that is what I initially thought too. But after sitting through this Russian action adventure, I must say that I was pleasantly surprised with the movie as a whole, because it turned out to be quite alright.

Dima receives an old Volga for his birthday, a car that he is not too fond of. One day while delivering flowers, Dima finds out that the car actually possess an incredible ability unlike other cars; the ability to fly. But the source of power fueling the car is sought after by shadowy people who will stop at nothing to obtain this item.

"Black Lightning" has elements of "Back to the Future", "The Fifth Element" and even "Spiderman" to it, sure, but it is still original in its own right.

While it is a Russian movie, that should not be a reason to skip out on watching the movie, because it is fun and entertaining.

Visually then "Black Lightning" is quite a treat for the eyes. The effects are realistic and believable - well as far as a flying car would be, I suppose. The special effects team really made this movie come to life on the screen.

I can't claim to be familiar with any to he actors or actresses in the movie, and as such it was nice to have something brand new to experience without being colored by previous roles, movies and performances by people in the movie.

"Black Lightning" is well-worth spending an hour and forty minutes on. Wholesome fun and entertainment all around.

Saw the trailer a while back and thought it was cool. Watched the film today and it still is cool for a low budget Russian film.

The film lacks originality, look at it as Spiderman with a flying car(Volga to be specific) and a few bits of Iron Man action added towards the end. The story is pretty much Spiderman. But if you can look beyond those points it is enjoyable.

On the upside, all the unknowns did a good job especially the lead actor and the lovely leading lady. The CGI was above average taking into account the low budget of the film.

Overall it was cool to watch and enjoyable to a fair degree, had the story been more original I would've rated it higher.

6.4/10

Definitely not bad.

First of all, I didn't realize it was Russian. It was dubbed in English so there were no annoying sub-titles. There were a few times when they show a newspaper headline or something on a computer that was in Russian, but it didn't take away from the story. The young man who played Black Lightning looked amazingly like Hayden Christenson from Jumper and the second set of Star Wars movies. He was very good in the role and he could easily play in American movies if he spoke English. His girlfriend was adorable as well. The special effects were not top notch but good enough to make the movie enjoyable. And of course there was the character you loved to hate, the evil rich guy who wanted to use the Black Lightning secrets, well, I can't tell you why. All in all, it was a very enjoyable movie.