Sputnik: extraño pasajero

Usually you don't expect much from non American sci fi movies. But this one is a good find. It's like seeing those movies of the 80's or 90's that still weren't that formulaic and doesn't try either to lecture you on morals or is totally devoid of any moral standing. The pace is slow but not boring (something American movies have lost the ability to keep) and the story evolves naturally and never fails to its own logic (there is no "you gotta be kidding me" moment as it all matches and fits without foolishness or absurdity, given the preset premises). Maybe it needed a little more or a little else to excel but it's quite a good product and the special effects are perfect (on par or even surparssing the American CGI's).

This is a very well done sci-fi with a solid creature which isn't too over the top and is kept just simple enough to really work. Some of the only gems coming out of the horror and sci fi genres these days are the indie/foreign films and this one delivers a scary creature without getting so bogged down and convoluted as some of the more recent big budget films. It is subtitled but you can still appreciate that the actors/actresses were quite good. It was an unexpected surprise and I recommend it to anyone surging through the massive catalog of cookie cutter and ridiculous horror movies of late.

I have to say,I really liked it. The story was tense from the beggining and the acting was quiet good. This is how every sci-fi movie should be...Entertaining,good plot, new and fresh ideas...Overall a good sci-fi movie... well done

Well, what do we have here? Could this be one of those films that have stopped coming from big studios a long time ago? Could this be a decent, well-made and thought provoking story in an interesting setting with great visuals and acting? In 2020?

Well, yes! Leave it to the Russians to bring some loving Sci-Fi back. Set in an intriguingly nostalgic feeling USSR of the 80s, "Sputnik" is a slow-paced, but increasingly intense story that manages to make you think a bit. The characters are nuanced, the plot is adequate, the cinematography very nice to excellent, and even the CGI is better than many films with way higher budgets.

If you don't try to project any "Western" expectations onto it and maybe even understand the "Russian soul" a bit, you will definitely enjoy this.

Set in 1983, this film opens with two cosmonauts preparing to return to Earth; they see something on the outside of their capsule. When the capsule lands one of them is dead and the other, Konstantin Veshnyakov, appears to be injured. He has no memory of what happened. The authorities, under Colonel Semiradov, invite psychiatrist Tatyana Klimova to try to help recover those memories. She is taken to a facility in Soviet Kazakhstan where she learns that there is far more to Konstantin's story than she was told... he has brought something back with him; something potentially very dangerous.

I enjoyed this film; some of the ideas may have been less than original but the setting gave it a freshness. Early on I wasn't sure what genre the film was as it is a while before it becomes obvious what the creature does and why. The design of the alien creature was impressive as was the way it moved. The cast did a solid job, most obviously Oksana Akinshina and Pyotr Fyodorov as Tatyana and Konstantin. While there isn't too much violence, what there is, is quite gory although unlikely to disturb horror fans. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to sci-fi fans.

These comments are based on watching the film in Russian with English subtitles.