Dark Planet (2009)

I must say I am very surprised how good this movie is. For that particular convention (sci-fi) this movie have very good and logical plot (movie is based on Brothers Strugacki book), very good special effects and its well played. A guy crash his spaceship on a foreign planet and it is caught by some weirdo. Whole planet is govern by a military junta or something alike. It turns out that population is govern by some sort of radiation. I don't want to tell more not to spoil the story but bear in mind that Strugaccy Brothers are very famous sci-fi writers and the story had very strong points. For a long time I didn't have so much fun watching sci-fi movie (last favorite one was "Serenity"). Straight to the point - if You can - watch this movie. One comment to the cast - main male character looks like Ken. His smile got my nerves - even my wife agreed that he looks too perfect but that was for sure the director idea.

Fmovies: Does it take a genius to create at least a bearable blockbuster movie when you have a solid budget of 40mln and and a famous book to form and back up the script? Apparently, yes. With no style or substance, Obitaemyy Ostrov manages to put much of its audience to sleep or make them shake their heads in disbelief. I wanted to be as objective as possible, but there's basically nothing I could have praised. From the retarded (and redubbed!) main leads who's primary objective was to look cute to loads of pointless scenes and a permanent sense of deja vu - the movie is a failure in every possible aspect. They say if you read the book before watching the flick, things may get better. I'm not sure whether it explains the painfully bad acting, pathetic CGI and downright ridiculous dialogues. Try not to laugh during the moments which were supposed to be emotional and dramatic. Ugh.

It doesn't help you much that you might have a great novel at your hands if you can’t render it in comprehensive and clear-cut screenplay. Yesterday I watched Inhibited Island (thereafter Island) and could not find the story. It took me half the way through the movie to catch dizzy glimpses of what was happening there. Though, there are many great films where you keep looking for answers even after final credits. Island is, certainly, not one of them.

The plot is weak at all points. The characters are cut-outs, one dimensional, lacking any insight. Their actions and motives are not clear, and this is obviously director’s fault and miscalculation. This movie has no suspense. Neither does it any plot twists nor unanticipated revelations. Acting is ludicrous, to say the least. It is very disheartening to watch many good actors drifting towards the borders of emptiness under a great direction of Fedor Bondarchuk. Andrei Merzlikin, for instance, is capable of portraying much more interesting and vivid character. In Island he had to downsize himself to copy-cat Gary Oldman from The Fifth Element. It’s pathetic.

It is a risky business to compete head-on with the Hollywood on their own turf. It came as no surprise as Island fell hard on its face when attempted to depict the whole Universe with the brushes which such artists, as George Lucas (Star Wars) and Luc Besson (The Fifth Element) had used up so successfully. Evidently, it is not enough to download Maya or 3D Max. You need to have something else to pull the magic.

Second rated TV companies can justifiably claim to have produced much more elaborate and interesting shows in terms of production design, wardrobe, props, and film vehicles. Island has nothing fresh and original to offer. It is all that boring seen-half-million-times-before stuff we’re fed up with. This time it is cheaper and amateurish than ever. It felt phony everywhere.

Action scenes. This is my opinion: If you can’t make them work the way in which their superiority stands for a mile, there is no reason to make them. All action scenes here are clumsy, cinematography is boring, editing followed the pattern. When after fist combat you start thinking, ‘Why the heck didn’t they simply shoot him’, It is a clear indication that something’s wrong.

If the budget were about $M 3-5 I'd say it is kinda funny movie to watch and forget. With the budget they've had (estimated $M 36-40), I suppose people are to expect much more interesting, intelligent and entertaining show. I didn't read a book this movie is based on. Hence all my comments relate only to movie.

Dark Planet fmovies. There are many beautiful layers in this movie. But what really fascinated me, was the figure of Maxim. This unification of messiah-like and yet very human and gentle features, this melting together of a hot-shot and yet modest, sensitive and yet strong, boy-like and yet wise person was really adorable to experience. The first scene really made me doubt if I would like this person, but in the end I was completely on his side.

The story follows an interesting plot and has some nice twists, the world is believable although it shines through as an allegory. I was more than pleased with it.

Some acting could have been better, yes. The directing has its flaws, yes. But it really didn't bother me too much. This movie was a very positive surprise for me, and I can't wait to see Maxim in action again. Well done!

The original book is a classic in Russia, and contains enough material (and in high enough quality) to create a Start Wars-like series of films. What was done instead was extremely fast-paced bullet-point-like re-telling of the classic story. No suspense, no tension that was present at all stages in the book.

The screenplay sticks to the original dialogue almost verbatim. A serious mistake in my view: the director seems to be afraid of the book fans, and doesn't dare to touch anything in the original. But the original dialogue was backed by a lot of description of internal thinking of the heroes - which cannot be shown on the screen. The result - the storyline is flat and uninteresting, instead of the intriguing and fascinating story in the book.

The actors' play is a total fiasco - except, maybe Strannik ("Strider") - but his role is relatively simple. Everybody else looks like they're reading from a phone book - which probably has to do with the fact that the dialogues were left as-is, see above.

I do appreciate the effort to create an "exoplanet" look of everyday things (cars, glasses, forks, plates, food, clothes etc). The things created would be unusable, but had the desired unusual look.

Overall, disappointing, and leaves a taste of a missed opportunity.

First things first: Make sure to see this in the 227min original (two-part) version. The international (one-part) release is a hack job with many crucial scenes missing, and a new cartoon title sequence that doesn't quite fit the mood.

The movie's greatest asset is certainly the Strugatzky brothers' nuanced story about a planet corrupt to the bone and the hero's moral imperative to intervene. The story is largely treated with respect, and while I can relate to some of the criticism aimed at the movie - there are some continuity issues, the casting might not suit everyone's taste, as won't the Matrix-style kung fu - this is a well-realised sci-fi flick that's worth watching for the strength of its story alone.

Yes, Tarkovsky would have made this a different movie, and I'm surely going to watch Aleksey German's 'Hard To Be A God', but I for one didn't mind this movie's bubblegum aesthetics while pondering existential moral dilemmas.