A Rough Draft

Kirill (Nikita Volkov) has a great life as a very successful video game designer; he has lots of friends, loving parents and a beautiful girlfriend, not to mention a loyal dog. But one evening when he returns to his apartment, he finds a stranger there - a woman named Renata (Severija Janusauskaite) who insists that the apartment (and the dog) belongs to her. In trying to straighten the situation out, Kirill soon discovers that all of his documentation has somehow disappeared from official records, his boss doesn't know him and worse, neither do his friends or even his parents. He is now at the mercy of Renata, who instructs him to go to a tower, where he will serve as the customs officer, opening doors to other worlds. And he's very good at what he does.... This sketchy description barely scratches the surface of this film, which is full of gorgeous imagery (steampunk vehicles, graceful dirigibles and terrifying flying matryoshka dolls) and out-of-this-world fight scenes. Really fun stuff, if bewildering at times.

As a big fan of Lukjanenko, the author of the book and the book itself, I so wished the movie would be any good. But unfortunately it isn't. And I am very sad to give this review

First of all I would like to thank the author for a great story. For some reasons this book puts me in a special mental state, so I have listened to an audio version of it more than enough to know the story by heart.

Now about the movie. My major complain goes to the screenwriter. Almost all story lines and characters, including the main ones were changed so heavily, that the whole thing stopped to make any sense after the first 30 minutes of the movie. I probably said "whaat the hell??" 100 times watching the movie. Somehow, to my regret, bad screenwriting became an epidemic in the russian movie industry. It's like they think that if they add some visual effects to the movie, they are justified to make a sloppy work on the story, which is what a good movie is actually always about. Common guys, that is just a lazy thinking!

Ok, you might say that I am biased by the book and it's always difficult to convert a book to a movie. So what if you haven't read the book? To that I would say - it will be even worse to watch, because you will just fail to understand what the hell is going on. Characters suddenly start talking about things and calling names you've never heard before. In my opinion you will not understand motivations and the logic, so you will be left to sit and wonder who is doing what and why.

My advise - skip the movie, read or listen the book.

I gave this film a chance, it took me a while to absorb the story and the theme, or the theme in general. To begin with, I have to write about the good sides of this film, and that is the theme, which is unique and has its own originality, that is actually the only good thing in this film. And now what I don't like. The actors do their work stiffly and unimpressively. The visual and audio performance is below average, some visual effects are good, but some are like watching a theater play (the moment when you know that the stone is made of cardboard in some scenes). Although the original and potentially interesting theme here is so sketchy, full of holes, inexplicable and stupid situations, almost the entire film you are lost and not in a positive way. Another major problem of this film is the duration of the film, the topic is big and there is a lot to process and process, show and explain, in this film it is all packed into a short period of time and in a hurry, and that is never good. Sometimes it's sad when someone discovers something new, something original and of great potential, and then it's not shown properly on the screen to the viewer.

...as intention. Because , it has beautiful premises, an interesting story and a lot of CGI effects. And a nice cast. But, scene by scene, it becomes a montagne russe. From the high level to the down. Once. And again. The best part- the resurrection of the memories about fairy tales. Including Russian . The worlds, the order keeper, the fundamental change of life - a fear of each from us- are good points . But the problem becomes with the wrong use of obsessive love story. Sure, Dante and Beatrice or, maybe,"What Dreams may Come". But the entire architecture of film is brocked. Sure, a seductive idea with high potential. But not enough for be credible. And real seductive.

I like the story-

Kirill (Nikita Volkov) returns home after a work celebration to find someone else living in his apartment. Soon he finds that no one remembers him- Not even the government! He discovers he has been chosen to be a customs agent, a person who can open doors to other worlds.

This movie feels like a rough draft. There was so much touched upon and and crammed into this movie. It would have done well to expand some parts of the storyline. The romance between Kirill and Anna had no depth or resolution. Although there were a few touching moments they weren't long enough to let you care.

Since this was an English dubbed film I must say the voice actors were mediocre. There was a part in the beginning where an actor is speaking and you only hear Kirill reply. Emotion is not always relayed and it takes away from the actors' intention.

There were a couple of neat little action scenes, some special effects and glimpses of other worlds. Scenes with Kirill and Kotya seemed natural.

This has at least inspired me to find the books and have a read.