Mira

Mira disaster film shot in Russia. And this is one of the first catastor films shot in Russia, after watching which it is not ashamed. Mira really looks decent, a good CGI for its budget, no "Hollywood" pathos and a simple straightforward plot. Yes, the first third of the film in everything is trying to imitate the Hollywood films of its genre. Yes, there is no star cast here, even by Russian standards. And as in any film, the catastrophe here is a makimally delusional plot. But Mira is simply pleasant to watch without a sense of shame, which is already rare for a Russian cinematographer, to whom the Kino Foundation is involved. I can only advise everyone to watch the film, Dmitry Kiselev has been making a very worthy film 2 times. Yes, The Age of Pioneers is far away, but there is a different budget.

A disaster movie yes, but certainly not a disaster to watch with unexpected plot twists and emotional panic as you think the end is nigh.

Special effects are perfectly created in the background, and they are good! It all merges around the cast. A cast of unknown actors who really are good enough so the disaster doesn't steal the screen.

As someone obsessed by space travel, I found the space station sequences so realistic I had to check to see if the ISS was still in orbit.

Well at a cost of nearly £6million it's production has a much sharper edge and excitement than most of those released in Hollywood and Korea.

This is an overlooked little gem of a film.

Film director Dmitry Kiselyov brings what looks and feels like a multi million dollar production to the screen despite the seemingly low budget

The editing and flow between the early on action is incredible and looks like it was done in one shot. No doubt CGI was involved but it was seamless.

The main characters are excellent and believable. Veronika Ustimova (who plays Valeria "Lera" Arabova) is reported as 'not having any acting abilities'. Wrong!! She is fantastic in this film and hopefully will go on to have a great career.

I'll certainly be scouring the streaming services for other titles.

Mira/The Last Signal has the best special effects I have seen.

C. G. I. was never detectable to me.

Almost the whole movie was special effects made from the viewer perspective such that you felt involved yourself when there was action.

The attention to detail was high.

Scene after scene appeared at a breathtaking rate during action segments, and it was astounding how they could make so many scenes with such difference, detail, and quality.

The plot, although done before, was saved by an original idea about communication.

One must wonder if politics can be used to explain the omission of Oscar nomination.

This is an interesting showcase of an obviously existing Russian desire to make western high-end spectacle movies. Others of this kind are 'Attraction' 1+2, 'Sputnik', 'The Blackout' series, 'Project Gemini' and 'Guardians'.

They are in the Sci-Fi genre not very innovative, rather simple in plot, well acted and technologically (FX,CGI) on a very high level.

It is to mention that they are in no way as outstanding as the two 'Night Watch' and 'Day Watch' movies from the early 2000s.

'Mira' is here a Russian space stations' AI, and it is also the weakest part of the whole movie, since dialogs with her are mostly cheesy.

The sole star is actually the FX and sound design department, which managed to create a fantastic '2012'-worthy destruction sequence of exhausting and captivating eight minutes length, that intrigued me very much. There is another great sequence, where the daughter is attempting to rescue her little brother, and her father tries a repair of the station, and both action strains, though in very different environments, are visually intertwined in a really wonderful manner. Note that this movie is said to have a budget of sparse 5 M Euros, which I consider as a shoestring, compared to western movies of this scale.

I would say that the acting is ok, the best of it comes from the children. The main actress is a bit too old for my taste, though being 18 playing a 15 or 16-year-old girl should be ok, but maybe I mean 'too experienced'. The main actor reminds me often of Mads Mikkelsen.

The paper-thin plot is just there to keep the story running, The family drama of the past is an unnecessary addition to explain the (in Russian terms) weird psyche of the main character, as in special needs because of PTSD. Supporting characters like the mother or the boyfriend (who lost a hand once) are staying superficial.

This disaster movie relies on the tension of time running out during the constant danger of a major cataclysm, combined with the usual family saving efforts. It is very effective with this and entertains greatly, until the final act, which appears to be superimposed and is not very 'realistic'.

One critical point is, between the many ultra-realistic and impressing cinematic danger situations the main characters have to endure to save their lives and those of others, the design team have obviously forgotten about the physics of fire and what it does in confined spaces to the breathable air.

I give the movie 7 stars rather than 6, for also being totally non-political, and for great atmosphere and good pacing.

Watched in Russian with English subtitles.