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(2020)

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8/10
It's a quality film.
Sleepin_Dragon23 January 2021
I'll be honest, I was really excited to see this, I don't have much experience with Russian Cinema unfortunately, but I'd this was anything to go by, then I am keen to see more.

A very good start, it's creepy, it's imaginative, I can truly believe that this is set in The Cold War USSR in the 1980's.

Well acted, well produced, I'm no film expert, but in terms of the visuals, it feels more American cinema than European cinema to me, it looks great.

I just love how Russian it is, from the name, to the Russian dolls that pop up.

It's chilling, it looks great, it exceeded my expectations, I perhaps didn't enjoy the ending quite to much, but that's a minor quibble, all in all, I thoroughly enjoyed it. 8/10.
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8/10
Solid Russian sci-fi with horror elements
Tweekums21 May 2021
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.
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8/10
Very good slow burn Russian scifi
siderite17 August 2020
I am happy to see that Russian scifi films are finally moving towards the Russian scifi literature that I loved so much as a child. This is a wonderful little gem, a Russian version of Life, but with more focus on the people and less on the special effects and action scenes. Not perfect, mind you, but so far the best Russian science fiction film I've seen them make recently. And the special effects were very good, too, which makes the decision to keep them in the background so much more laudable.

The weakest link is the main character, unfortunately, who does things that make little sense for a scientist. Yet her contribution is not that of a character, but as a carrier of the audience, so what she does is really not that relevant.

I hope Russian cinema will start bringing back the intellectual slow burn story, the civilian scientists that have to solve problems without relying on strength or weapons, but on their own thinking.
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6/10
Felt this movie was weird? Let me explain
kuarinofu14 August 2020
I know something about Russian cinema (I live near Russia and I speak Russian).

Let me explain why this movie is not what it could've been.

First of all, modern big-budget Russian cinema is desperately trying to copy Hollywood-style productions and franchises, they even borrow some scripts and ideas (which is fine, many European filmmakers do this). Indie Russian filmmakers mostly do other types of films and there are lots of great Russian films out there, like Durak (2014), Leviathan (2014), Zhit (2010), Zavod (2018) and many more.

This film is not an exception in terms of Hollywood copy-pasting. Up to around 1 hr mark, they just copy scenes and concepts from popular films like Annihilation, Venom, Gravity (opening scene), Arrival, After Earth, and Alien Covenant. This is a common practice since sometimes they just straight-up rip off scripts and whole films like Nochnye strazhi (2016) (MIB rip-off with vampires), Den D (2008) (Commando scene-by-scene ripoff), Voin (2015) (a rip-off of Warrior (2011) and many, many more.

They do this copy-paste pretty well, the cinematography is great, the 80ties Soviet-era setting works although they never really dive deep into it since this film was made for international release and most of the more complicated stuff just wouldn't be understood. In this film though they re-create those scenes not exactly knowing what they are meant to establish. Many scenes are supposed to be emotional but not in this film, they clearly misunderstood the tone of some of those since the music is heavily misused in this. Like the scene where the doctor is transported to the facility, which was taken from the Arrival, but they play military-style music which does not fit well into the "delving into the unknown" style of the scene, more like an action film build-up.

Right around 1hr mark, they run of these and just start making their own stuff up, making really big stretches in terms of the script. Since the premise was a mix of other films they didn't really know where to go with this and thus, the film transformed into a mess of unbelievable scenes and random unnecessary subplots. Character motivation is completely dropped and all the things the characters do make absolutely no sense, nobody knows what and why they are doing.

The kid subplot was so incredibly unnecessary and disconnected that removing it from the story would change absolutely nothing. I have absolutely no idea why it was even included (probably because of using this mix of ideas they didn't really know what genre the film is supposed to be, a sci-fi horror? a family drama? who knows).

The ending is very messy and kind of defeats the purpose of most of the unmotivated character actions, which is a staple of these types of films.

We will surely see more of these since foreign markets are very profitable, and since most of these big productions are co-funded by Fond Kino (Cinema Fund, Russian governmental organization), the creators are not really scared of losing money and are just trying to build up better visuals and more recognizable imagery to sell their product worldwide.

Even though this film was quite a mess, I still want to give props to the filmmakers (one of which is the son of a great Soviet director Sergei Bondarchuk (the author of many great films and even an oscar-winning Voyna i mir (1966-67), who plays the commander in this one) for achieving a technical level of a good Hollywood production.

Too bad they had no original concept or a general idea of what they are trying to show.

Hope this review makes it easier for foreign viewers to understand and appreciate this film for what it is.
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7/10
A little Sci-Fi gem
IMDbKeepsDeletingMyReviews2 September 2020
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.
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10/10
Egor Abramenko ... 33 Years Old... First Fature Film.... Masterpiece
yusufpiskin13 December 2020
Hard to believe this is the director's first feature. Solid sci-fi horror film with strong characterization and strong tension and mood and also presents one of the most terrifying movie monsters I've seen in a while. Oksana Akinshina gives a soulful performance.

Oksana Akinshina, Fedor Bondarchuk, Pyotr Fyodorov, Oleg Karpachev (music), Maxim Zhukov (Cinematography) I gave a standing ovation.
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7/10
It has Been A Long Time Since A Good Alien Movie
crowes-1886516 November 2020
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.
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8/10
In the Alien genre Sputnik has its place.
deloudelouvain10 January 2021
To be honest I wasn't expecting much from a Russian Sci-Fi Horror movie but the truth is that after watching Sputnik I was pleasantly surprised. It's definitely a well made movie, with a creepy alien, a good entertaining story with a fair amount of suspense, and an unknown cast to me that did an excellent job. Oksana Akinshina, Fedor Bondarchuk and Pyotr Fyodorov, the three main characters, are good Russian actors. Sputnik is like the Alien franchise we all know, a creepy alien terrorizing humans, with a good CGI that makes this movie stand out from the rest. Definitely worth watching if you like this genre of movies.
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7/10
For those confused at ending
mrtomberry20 August 2020
Warning: Spoilers
For those confused by the ending including some of the other reviews:

The child adopted at the end of the film (the cosmonaut's son) is not the child seen in the orphanage throughout the film. Those scenes are flashbacks to Tanya when she was a child and thus the link between the running shoes in the box and the focus on the running shoes she unpacks when she arrives at the institute. The young Tanya's problems with walking presumably also linked to the scar seen on adults Tanya's back indicative of spinal surgery.
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8/10
Sputnik
marmar-6978021 August 2020
Sputnik may actually be the best Sci Fi film that i saw entire year only competitor can be Vast of Night and even if that film was also good,Sputnik was more effective and more chilling to me,it also had great use of atmospfere and some creepy imagery,Some people would compare this film to Alien or even Carpenters The Thing and even if it has some referances to such films,Sputnik was also able to be original in a way and it had interesting alien creature design,look of entire film and colors in it were also very strong and it blended with a story very well,relationship and chemistry between our leads was little rushed and with little chemistry between them,but it surved its purpose,Sputnik was a very surprising Russian Sci Fi film
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7/10
Good SF/Horror
Pairic15 January 2021
Sputnik: SF/Horror thriller. Echoes of Arrival as attempts are made to communicate with an Alien. This is a more vicious alien though who likes to chomp on humans, biting half their skulls off to obtain cortisol from their brains. The alien lives within a cosmonaut, emerging at night for brief periods. Set in Russia in 1983 the cosmonaut is confined at a special military base and a psychiatrist is recruited to assess the cosmonaut and to try to interface with the alien. Quite disturbing when the ET gets the munchies, some interesting plot twists. The symbiosis between alien and man is put across in a plausible manner and the creature itself is convincing. Directed by Egor Abramenko from a script by Oleg Malovichko and Andrei Zolotarev. On Netflix. 7/10.
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8/10
Nice little sci-fi/horror film
Top_Dawg_Critic28 September 2020
This was a really well done film. The S/VFX were excellent. The directing was great. Writing, run-time and pacing were spot on. Cinematography and score were on point. The acting and casting couldn't have been better. Very entertaining indeed.
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7/10
Finally something new and refreshing...
shakal_marko28 August 2020
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
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10/10
Highly recommended. One of the best Sci-fi Horror movies to come out of Russia.
Vivekmaru4514 August 2020
Warning: Spoilers
I have seen a lot of similar sci-fi movies in the past. Ridley Scott's Alien is the one that most compares with this film. The other is the 2017 film Life. This movie is about an alien parasite that impregnates and uses its host as a literal space-suit so-to-speak. The movie also questions the fact whether the organism is a parasite or a symbiotic organism.

Plot: A pair of Russian cosmonauts return back to Earth on account of their spacecraft malfunctions. One of them is critically injured and barely kept alive, while the other is miraculously unscathed. Both of them are kept in an isolated military facility, where Dr. Tatyana Klimova, a young psychiatrists under review for her controversial approaches, is brought, recruited by the officer in charge, Colonel Semiradov. Soon the doctor will learn the terrible truth of what happened onboard the spacecraft...

Egor Abramenko makes his directorial debut and he has done a fine job. I am sure he will improve vastly with more films given to him. The cinematography, background music and acting is top-notch. The C.G.I. special effects are also very good. Horror and Sci-fi fans will not be disappointed here. The only problem with these C.G.I. effects I see nowadays is that they are executed to fast and the viewer not given time to digest.

But overall, the flaws of the film are minor and the good points outweigh the bad. The movie is an original concept and I loved watching every minute of it. There are many Hollywood movies I have seen where my mind wonders away from the screen to something else. But this one kept my attention to the very end. 10/10. Egor Abramenko is going to become one of the best directors around.
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6/10
The second half needs remaking
Jim_Screechy17 August 2020
This movie starts off well enough with an intriguing, if a little slow account of the aftermath of a Russian space craft's return to earth.

There is a good deal of suspense throughout the movie and its well acted and reasonably well directed. The problems stem from the failing plot that surfaces about an hour into the screenplay where the focus shifts from the extra-terrestrial and scientific aspect of the events, to one of inter-Soviet self interest, coupled with professional ambition, deceit and posturing.

This is all done fairly badly and is incongruous with the preceding story line. The result is a sudden and very disjointed feeling from what was a quite immersive film experience. I'm not sure why this was done, but I suspect it was a foolish attempt to add depth and dimension to a plot that really needed something extra to successfully bring it to conclusion.

Though this isn't Alien, or anything like a number of other titles involving extraordinary beings coming into contact with humanity, its a well trodden path that doesn't deal with the subject mater particularly successfully. Finding a unique path for development isn't always easy and though it begins well, the plot becomes messy, the scenes and dialog delusive, and progression of the story becomes dependant on the characters making unrealistic decisions, poor choices, and atypical behaviour.

I definitely liked it initially, but sadly I began rolling my eyes with the later developments and by the end I was fairly disappointed with what really should have been a good film.

Old Hollywood movies always had romance in them. It mattered little if it was a thriller, Sci-Fi, Comedy, or some other genre. There was always some romantic subplot thrown in for completeness. Similarly, Bollywood films necessitate scenes where the cast dance around in the street like some sort of expression of national pride. This movie had its own throwbacks of this dated approach with the professional posturing, the vying for position, and the excessive engagement in political skulduggery. The results made it feel stilted and hackneyed, especially because it was done so obtusely. It really spoils the film.

I can't recommend it in all honesty, though I think a six is a fair enough score given it did have some good aspects.
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8/10
I am Tanya
nogodnomasters11 March 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Two cosmonauts return from space in 1983. One has died and the other has picked up an alien that develops a symbiotic relationship with the host. Neurologist Tatyana Klimova is called in to help study the individual because she thinks outside the box. Because this is a Russian film, it takes on aspects of "Liquid Sky" and goes into a lengthy character development like a Russian novel. It is also a love story.

What made the film confusing is that it would flash to an orphanage scene which I believed was contemporary and not a flashback.

Guide: No swearing, sex, or nudity.
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8/10
Sputnik nails the Atmosphere for the Sci-Fi Horror
Harikl15 August 2020
This Russian sci-fi horror was surprisingly good. It captures the atmosphere of Russian military and alien amazingly. Yes, the relationship and motive between two main characters is debatable and feel unrealistic. But i am passing it as the rest of the movie was fantastic. Actors did a good job especially the military commander. It would have been 10/10 if they had tweaked the script a bit.
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9/10
excellent
saamitrov16 August 2020
I almost never give a nine for a movie but this one deserves it,I'm a big fan of science fiction and I saw probably everything worthwhile from that genre but this film is a real surprise for me,this is one of the best sci-fi movies in my life ! Watch this movie without the prejudices which you may have about Russian movies and you will be as surprised as I am !
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7/10
Slow burn horror movie, but worth it
criscal30 March 2021
I really enjoyed watching this movie. The cinematography and the sound and soundtrack are the best part about it. The special effects for the creature are absolutely adequate. There are no cheap uses of scare effects, which make the majority of horror movies so lame.
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6/10
Excellent cinematography, but the story goes nowhere
Gentzen19 August 2020
Cinematography (camera, pace, lighting, angles) is top-notch. Score is majestic and utterly suggestive of a dark, claustrophobic atmosphere and the sense of grappling with the unknown. Acting is good enough. However, the story goes nowhere really. The reach of the plot runs out at just over an hour, once the picture has become clear of what the situation is. From there on, it becomes nonsensical, as it lacks a credible motivation for the main characters' choices of course of action. There is also little reason behind a middle ranked army officer keeping all of this secret from headquarters. And the child subplot is rather superfluous and contributes nothing. The resolution of the story is hasty and fairly commonplace, a sign of the script having run out of original ideas.

The film is, therefore, a mixed bag. Technically, it stands its ground very well against better and more expensive sci-fi productions from Hollywood . It is true that special effects and CGI are sparse here, but this film is not meant to tread the same roads as thinly-scripted, CGI-heavy, teen sensations like Transformers. Instead, a well worked out script would have allowed expert direction to make this into a solid, sober and tense, sci-fi drama.
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7/10
This movie was a very nice surprise...
paul_haakonsen14 August 2020
I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I sat down to watch the 2020 Russian sci-fi horror movie from director Egor Abramenko. In fact, I hadn't even heard about the movie prior to actually sitting down to watch it.

However, I must say that the movie's poster and cover was definitely interesting and served to lure me in.

And I am glad that it did, because writers Oleg Malovichko and Andrei Zolotarev really put together a very enjoyable and entertaining movie. I liked the storyline and how it panned out. And truth be told, then there wasn't really a dull moment throughout the course of the almost 2 hours that the movie ran for.

Don't let the fact that this is a Russian movie put you off, because you will definitely be missing out on an interesting movie if you opt to skip on it solely because of the language.

I can't claim to be familiar with a single person on the cast list, and that is something that I enjoy. And I will say that they had a great ensemble of casted actors and actresses to portray the various roles and characters in the movie. And that definitely added to the overall enjoyment that is "Sputnik".

Normally sci-fi is not my go-to genre of movies, nor is it one that I actively avoid. But every now and again there are sci-fi movies that catch my interest and entertain me. And "Sputnik" was definitely one such movie.

Right, well before I forget, then the special effects and CGI should be mentioned. Wow. Just wow. The special effects team and CGI team definitely knew what they were doing. And the alien creature looked really realistic - if there is such a thing to be said about aliens, if you believe in them or not. But color me impressed. It was really nice to look at with such great CGI effects.

All in all, "Sputnik" turned out to be a great movie, and if you enjoy a darker sci-fi movie with elements of horror to it, then you should most certainly sit down to watch "Sputnik". My rating of this 2020 movie is a solid seven out of ten stars. It is well worth the time, money and effort.
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9/10
After the thing (original) this is the 2nd favourite sci fi cinema in same genre
suvechhabose20 August 2020
The quiet place,Ad astra,high life You name it,this movie is better than all of them combined .Yes u read it right.

What a beautiful cinema! Oh my,where to start? First this movie will seem a little slow,dull,same premise,same objective as any other alien sci-fi movies But at the middle you ll see something's are different in this movie,i wont reveal them but they are terrific and perfectly understandable.

Why every alien would want to kill an alien? Is it necessary because its horror genre s groundwork? Kudos to that director for his innovative idea. Cinematography and background score is cryptic and emotional,fits like a symbiote.

Go for it,you won't regret.. This movie deserves alot more praise. And anybody not understanding this, need to watch the movie on its emotional ground And forget about the sci fi element.
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9/10
Very good
sonekken5 July 2020
The astronaut - alien parasite theme has been explored with mostly disastrous results by Hollywood. But the Russians finally nailed it.
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8/10
If you like Sci-Fi. You'll like this.
doktorwirefly23 August 2020
I had a friend a long time ago who when we sat down to watch a movie together, if I attempted to name an actor, would silence me saying, "suspend your disbelief and just enjoy the movie for what it is". It's easy to make comparisons with the familiar. It's a lot harder to judge something unfamiliar on its own merit. I'm not Russian, neither do I speak the language so I was grateful for the steady paced subtitles to guide me through the plot. If you need to measure this movie against others of similar ilk. You are probably going to be disappointed? On the other hand. If like me you are prepared to leave your ego and bias at the door. You might notice what a little gem this movie is. Go Russia. Make some more.
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6/10
Sputnik
henry8-321 January 2021
Top psychologist Akinshina is bought into to look at cosmonaut Fyodorov who has returned to Earth with issues - notably a creature inside him. Can the creature be separated from Fyodorov without killing him or is the potentially symbiotic relationship irreversible.

Nice to see something quite original for once. Sure it's a bit of a monster from outer space movie, but it's well scripted, has some interesting ideas as well as some enjoyable gory and tense moments and quite a fun creature. This is low budget stuff, but a really noble sci-fi effort - worth catching.
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