Guardians/Защитники 2017: a review

I was taken by surprise to find this movie on DVD while I was out shopping today. 

The trailer has been around on youtube since last December or November and I was super excited for it. Like most Russian films, it took a long time to pick up a distributor in the US. This one was released by Shout Factory. 

Although not Russia’s first super hero movie, that title goes to “Black Lightning”, it is certainly the biggest one to come along. The film concerns a group of super humans created by the Soviet Union to counter supernatural threats. Xenia can control water and turn into it, Ler can control rocks (ala Earth Bending), Khan can move a super speed and Ursus (in some literature, referred to as Arsus) can turn into a super strong were-bear. Another side effct of the process that gave them their powers is that they age at a much slower rate, maybe not aging at all. They are called out of retirement to stop one of the gave them their powers, who is now a cyborg that can control machines, as well as being back up by an army of synthetic soldiers. The villain wants to conquer the world by amplifying his powers and controlling all machinery on Earth and a Cold War era satellite-based laser weapon. 

This movie had its flaws. Mostly the weak script. It feels like it was written in a hurry. Everything is happening at a breakneck pace just to get to the scenes where the Guardians confront the villain. It also has some plot holes that I am not getting into here without spoiling it for those who want to see it. They also leave a little too much unexplained. 

I could not bring myself to hate it tho. It has some great action, spectacle, the CGI looks good for a film made for the equivalent of $5.4 million. I especially liked Ursus. 

Its also worth noting that there is a Marvel comics character called Ursa Major who is Russian hero working for the Soviet/Russian government who can transform into an anthropomorphic bear. Maybe we will see hum if they decide to do a “Winter Guard” film. 

The cast and crew gave it their all but once again, the weak script held this film back. 

Although it under preformed at the Russian box office, foreign sales of the film, particularly to China, has ensured that there will be a sequel said to have more Guardians join the team. Hopefully it will be better written and I am looking forward to it. 

I will say this, it is still way better than “Batman vs Superman”!