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Guardians is a Russian superhero film released in February 2017. The initial trailers looked enticing, bear-man, fights, explosions! It’s the Russian version of Avengers. There was quite a buzz around the film after its release and it did well in its opening weekend, only to plunge into a state of utmost disappointment with its box office revenue hitting ten percent of what it made previously during the second weekend.
This one is very predictable plot-wise. This isn’t always terrible, which is the case with Sing as well as highly valued. But if you plan on using a formula, it must be done the right way. You have to add a couple of entertaining unexpected elements, diversify it a bit, and maybe add some jokes that mock the very structure one is basing off. Guardians fail on all these counts.
A faction of Soviet scientists was working on a project to develop a group of superheroes during the Cold War. Due to infighting and the nature of a previous failed project, one of the scientists, Kuratov, left the group. In the present day, he has finally succeeded. He has a built-in casing which allows him to control a wide variety of machines from trucks to computers. Kuratov has a giant case of resentment combined with the intent of taking over the world so that his unmatched genius is recognized.
There exists a secret organization known as Patriot, under the command of Major Elena (a sort of Russian Nick Fury) and they are looking for a way to stop Kuratov. They hunt down four of the superheroes, the Guardians, who don’t seem to have aged. The Guardians agree to help, mostly because they want to get revenge on Kuratov for his experiments on them. They get their ass handed to them on their first mission and get rescued by Major Elena. She gives them some better outfits and equipment and other stuff happens which is frankly boring.
One of the central negative points towards this film is that four Guardians feel very one-dimensional, in the negative vantage point, the audience does not care too much about them. Comparatively, there are many advantages to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, for example decades of comics and pop culture osmosis, so that even if you are not familiar with the superheroes, you have definitely heard of them. Similarly, the MCU has focused on well-built characters throughout the course of several films.
The four Guardians. From the left, Ler, Ursus, Xenia and Khan. And by Patriots, it has four new superheroes that the audience has absolutely no prior knowledge of, and depending on the narrative of the excuse has no time to develop. They seem completely indifferent. With each of them, Patriot manages to delve them into the depths of their pain and sorrow, and let the waters of their powers pour out, but there is no background context. There is a clear deficiency of them or her, what the Cold War was, and how they have rooted and dealt with their powers to be what they are as individuals. In the middle of the film, there is a half-hearted attempt. While interacting with the major, Elena, there is a reveal of self description, but it completely lacks in effectiveness. Instead, it portrays inadequacy. All you have are four people who deep down have an attitude problem. And since there is nothing else to work on, the audience is bound to compare them with other prominent superheroes without the glamour.
Then there is Ksenia, who seems to have some kind of water-power and can become invisible or sort of water-drenched when she desires. This makes her kind of like the Invisible Woman from the Fantastic Four, only a bit more…um, slippery? Later on, Patriot makes a new special arrangement for Xenia and insists on her wearing them. She has glowing tattoos, and a history of remarkable feats combined with memory loss.
The fourth Guardian, who goes by the name of Khan, is a true adversary upon first glance. His way of hiding his face is reminiscent of that of the Winter Soldier. Khan is able to break down walls with his fist, as well as having the ability to move at high speeds like a bolt of lightning. His incredibly fast reflexes are awe inspiring, giving him the appearance of teleporting. These combinations make him a mixture of The Flash and Nightcrawler. Not to mention, Khan is a ninja. Khan is unrivaled as the greatest Guardian of the group. He wields two swords that have the capacity to slice through entire vehicles like butter.
There is not much else to add about this film. The creators certainly lacked imagination or just did not care to provide the film with more meaning. The villain Kuratov is clearly performing with a fake rubber bodysuit, struggling to even make decent facial gestures. His defeat felt stupid. Our protagonists are beaten up for the second time, not even attempting to work together, if any sort of teamwork even existed. It makes no sense.
Ursus the bear-man. Aha, it’s time we tackled Ursus! (Sometimes written as Arsus, or Арсус in Russian.) Although he spends around five to six minutes in his bear form in the 89-minute long movie, the entire transformation is relatively good. The computer graphics for his transformation are incredible! When he transforms, his head, arms, and upper torso become more ‘bear like’ in addition to the fur on his shoulders and back. At times, he is able to effortlessly break through his pants to reveal his full form, which is pretty impressive. For the majority of his time in the movie, he is clad in enchanted trousers. His pants magically reappear when he becomes a bear, which is a plus. The first time I saw him, I noticed that he competently tosses mooks during fights and then later uses a large machine gun to finish off his opponents.
I got my hands on a leaked pirated version of Guardians in Russian that came out a few months back. Don’t bother with the subtitles; those didn’t help me too much either. Fortunately, Shout! Factory has announced the release of a DVD and a Blu-ray copy, so it will no longer be a concern. The video on demand version is said to be available online. While I’m on the topic, viewers do seem disappointed with the English dub; I can’t say much about the subtitles. Along with the criticism, there are whispers about a sequel, although I’m not sure how credible the Chinese production is, but I am cautious.
This is the second part of our review on new Russian films which might be interesting for furries. Read the first one here.
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