Review: Guardians
The Russian superhero film directed by Sarik Andreasyan feels like a hybrid of X-men, Avengers and the Fantastic Four. While it doesn’t stack up to its Hollywoods counterparts, the Sci-fi action blockbuster ‘Guardians’ is a decent popcorn fare for superhero aficionados.
Perhaps we’ve been spoilt by Hollywood’s bestowal of superhero films with astronomical budgets - with nearly all of Marvel’s and DC’s visual effects on the big screen looked seemingly flawless. With a daring move from Russia to produce its very own superhero offering, it lacks the singular factor that sets itself apart from the already over-saturated competition.
The film tells a story about a team of Soviet superheroes created during the Cold War by a mad scientist August Kuratov (Stanislav Shirin), who genetically modifies human beings to give them superpowers. When there is a sighting of a meta-human in recent years, a secret organisation ‘Patriot’ is tasked to search for the four superheroes who were once lab rats of Kuratov.
Arusus (Anton Pampushnyy) transforms into a bear and has the control to determine if he morphs into a full-fledged bear or a half bear, half man form. Ler (Sebastien Sisak), the team leader, has the ability to move rocks with his mind. This allows him to attack his enemies with rocks, or to build a rock armour around his body. Khan (Sanzhar Madiyev) carries two giant sickles and is able to move as fast as the speed of the wind. The last member is Xenia (Alina Lanina), who can manipulate water and become invisible.
Sounds familiar? We can definitely match these powers of the Guardians to the recognised superheroes that appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Coming out with new superpowers isn’t the fundamental issue for newly-minted superheroes, but to execute and tell a different backstory of these superheroes is the considerable topic that should be tackled instead.
While Guardians may not have the best CGI or the best choreographed fight scenes, it does however, ticked all the boxes you’ll expect from a superhero movie: a decent storyline; the road to self-discovery; how they learn to work as a team; the explosions; and the mechanical monsters created by a crazy lab scientist. - Flora
