Sputnik Review

 

Certificate: 15

Running time: 111 minutes

Starring: Oksana Akinshina, Pyotr Fyodorov, Fyodor Bondarchuk, Anton Vasilyev

Directed by: Egor Abramenko

The story: After something strange occurs on a mission, a space aircraft crash lands with the commander as its only survivor. When a controversial but renowned psychologist is recruited to evaluate his mental state, it soon becomes clear that the commander may not have returned alone...

The verdict: I came across this film awhile ago and filed it away as 'one to watch,' but somehow it slid down my watch list. This was definitely an error on my part as Sputnik turned out to be a great watch and one that I should have gotten to sooner. 

I am ashamed to admit that I have not watched an abundance of Russian films, and along with 'Beanpole,' Sputnik is the only other Russian film that I have seen this year. However, after watching Sputnik and really enjoying it, it has certainly inspired me to seek out more of what Russian cinema has to offer. 

Sputnik is a horror/sci-fi hybrid and makes really good uses of elements from both genres. The sci-fi element is more dominant but there are definitely moments of horror as well which are executed well and which don't rely on making the audience jump out of their skin. Sputnik won't leave you sleeping with the light on, but it is very effective at building a suitably tense and chilling atmosphere. Sputnik had me gripped throughout and I found it very engaging. 

Visually, I really liked Sputnik. It is really well shot and makes great use of a dark colour palette. The production design is scarce but plays exactly into how you would imagine a slightly shady soviet era facility to look. I also really liked the creature effects especially when compared to similar films with much bigger budgets, I felt that Sputnik more than held its own. 

The performances are also good and I really enjoyed that the central character was a strong and interesting female. Oksana Akinshina puts in an understated but confident performance and even though her character is not necessarily one that the audience immediately warms to, she develops in interesting and surprising ways. In that way, I would say that Sputnik is well written and well directed.

Sputnik has found itself as the subject of some negative reviews and has been quite divisive for some audiences. The primary complaint of these reviews is that Sputnik is derivative of so many other films in the genre. Whilst Sputnik is not necessarily a wholly new and original idea, I never found it particularly derivative. Yes, it uses mostly tried and tested ideas but it also introduces its own as well. I found it original and unique in its own way.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Sputnik. Though it was much quieter and more contemplative than I was expecting, it was intriguing, engaging and highly watchable. I really liked the story and the visuals and would highly recommend it for fans of the genre.

The verdict: ★★★★ and a half