This blockbuster is in Russian with English subtitles. During a meteorite shower which damages and de-cloaks it, an alien spaceship is shot down by Russian fighters. It smashes and crashes its way through a Moscow suburb causing massive loss of life and damage to property on its way and killing Yulya’s (Irina Starshenbaum) best friend. Her gangland boyfriend Artyom (Alexander Petrov) is dismayed when events lead Yulya to be rescued by the humanoid alien encased in a powerful spacesuit. Yulya’s father (Oleg Menshikov) is in charge of the monitoring of the spacecraft and Yulya’s mission quickly moves to returning Hijken (Rinal Mukhametov) to his spacecraft so he can leave and go home. As the two get to explore one another’s worlds and language they fall in love. Artyom is not happy and he incites his gang and a group of locals to storm the spacecraft so that Yulya’s lover cannot leave.
Fedar Bondarchuk directs this fast-paced, action-packed, alien thriller. The special effects are powerful and realistic. There are geeky characters, humorous moments, poignant scenes and tense, heart-stopping climaxes, all with a Moscovian, almost Cold War-type feel to it. What’s not to like?
Towards the end Hijken remarks that alien spacecraft all avoid the Earth because its inhabitants are so violent and wasteful of resources. There is a general consensus that Earth should not be contacted. His planet, on the other hand, has developed to such an extent that its inhabitants are immortal. Ah but … do they experience this kind of love?
See it:
Wednesday 28th June 1800 Cineworld
Friday 30th June 1800 Cineworld
Mary is a longstanding writer with publications in The Scotsman and a number of independent travel logs and blogs. She has written professionally as part of her 40 year career in education and for pleasure.
