Review of the movie “Satellite”. In Kazakhstan, no one will hear your scream – review

In our country, fiction and horror of the 80s are treated with special trepidation. Thanks to the VHS era on “Alien”, “Predator”, “Terminator” and “Something” About two generations have grown. Through the efforts of Volodarsky, Gavrilov and other masters of dubbing-bubbling, the American classics pretty “Russified” and became the same part of our cultural code, as, for example, “The Diamond Arm”. The highest form of flattery is imitation, and therefore it was only a matter of time before one of the Russian filmmakers finally decided to express their love for films with a vidik with his own full-length homage. Or, as skeptics say sarcastically, the “answer.” As soon as the trailer came out SputnikIt seemed that this had happened.

1983 year. The Orbit-4 spacecraft returned to Earth, but something happened during the descent. As a result, one of the two astronauts was torn to pieces, and the second in unconsciousness. To assess the condition of the survivor, a neurophysiologist Tatyana Klimova, an impudent nonconformist, whose career is about to sink due to the dangerous experience of the patient, is brought from Moscow to the institute in Kazakhstan. Pretty quickly, the girl finds out that they did not call her for a simple examination. In the astronaut Veshnyakov, a predatory alien creature settled, able to briefly get out. But the parasite and the carrier cannot exist separately. Klimova is tasked with figuring out how to finally remove an individual from Veshnyakov and at the same time save his life.

First of all, no – this is not the Russian Alien, albeit in the picture there are a couple of visual references to the Ridley Scott film. With tape “Living” too little in common. Both there and there, the alien acted as a dominant force, and the main concern of the heroes was survival. But in Sputnik, an alien creature is more a circumstance than a full participant in events. The monster sometimes appears and even eats someone, but those who expected a dynamic sci-fi horror from the film will be most disappointed. Before us, in fact, is a conversational thriller, almost a play. In total there are three participants in it, besides Tatyana: Colonel Semiradov, who invited her, surprisingly progressive for a security officer, scientist Rigel, hysterical and jealous, and cosmonaut Veshnyakov, who carries a monster inside himself. In the process, the main character will have to figure out which one to believe, which side to take and what, in fact, to do with the alien.

This format implies that the relationship between the characters, dialogs and the plot is much more important than a rare action. This is a great way out if the budget for “Aliens” not enough, but I really want to try strength in science fiction. The problem is that in this situation, the requirements for the script are significantly increased, and it is at least not perfect in Sputnik. The authors of the film are Andrey Zolotarev and Oleg Malovichko. The first worked on a good “Icebreaker” and disgusting Dancing to the Death, the second – on the hit series “Method” and failing “Night watch”and together they wrote “Attraction”, “Invasion” and musical dilogy “Ice”. Even a cursory glance at these track records is enough to realize that both screenwriters adore the same thing – Hollywood cliches. The time-tested plot moves are used by them without any hesitation and with minimal adaptation to Russian or in the case of Sputnik Soviet realities. Heroes speak and behave in the same way as their many prototypes from those same films with VHS, which on an intuitive level feel wrong. If you include in parallel some tape of the perestroika pore, then you will understand that even in the characters Chernobyl HBO is more from Soviet citizens than in the main actors of Sputnik. However, one of the viewers may not be bothered at all. What harms the film is that cliches become the main driving force of the story. Characters perform certain actions, not because the situation requires it, but as if because the genre requires it. Because the heroes of a similar archetype did this in other films, and motivation in the arms with logic can go through the woods. Well, if the points in the script do not connect elegantly, then they are sewn together, which is why the film is full of moments that can be accompanied by the memetic “Oh, how convenient!”. Here, there is blindly deaf protection, and sudden insights, and the presence in the Kazakh laboratory of all the necessary components for creating a specific drug almost on the knee, and much more.

But with all the jambs, the Sputnik is made soundly technically. The debut of the video maker Yegor Abramenko does not look so much like homage to the fiction of the 80s, but as a stylization for fashion art horror, which is released by A24. The picture is verified, with a clearly arranged composition of the frame and cool colors. The atmosphere is dense and oppressive, largely due to the central location – an institution built in the best traditions of Soviet brutalism. In some places, the creators even manage to catch up with suspense, especially in the scene of the first contact with the creature. She, by the way, is drawn and animated much better than in the first trailer. Of course, there is nothing to compare with, but so far this is the best CGI creature in Russian cinema. Yes, the design is secondary, but it meets the needs of the plot: the alien must be both vile and sweet, and hypothetically able to get out of the carrier without harming him.

But, as already noted, the main thing in Sputnik is not an alien, but people. And there are no problems with them, in general, at least in terms of acting. Oksana Akinshina, as she was, remains one of the best Russian actresses, regardless of the genre, and Pyotr Fedorov habitually plays the nervous soldier. Caricatured, but at the same time more colorful came out the scientist Yagel performed by Anton Vasilyev and Colonel Semiradov, played by Fyodor Bondarchuk in a funny wig. But they, again, are constrained by the script, where instead of characters there are archetypes, and instead of characters biographies. So, in the film there is a whole storyline with a child in an orphanage, which, in theory, should make viewers take a different look at one of the characters. But not forcing. It can be cut as a whole, and this does not affect either the plot or the images.

To twist the script, better register the characters, add more bloody action, and Sputnik could be called an excellent fantastic thriller. But this is just a more or less competent film of category B. If he had left the VHS era, he would hardly have become a classic, but he probably found his audience.