This is a fun movie with a sort of alternate universe Fantastic Four. They've got an invisible girl and a guy who turns into a bear. There is dude who controls rocks with his mind, but at one point wears them like armor, looking a bit like Ben Grim and a character with super speed who is also sort of a samurai, I guess. Full disclosure, I've wanted to see this movie since the trailer dropped a long time ago because my comic of Hulk fighting the Soviet Super Soldiers was a favorite of mine as a kid and this group reminded me a lot of them on the surface. (Especially Ursa Major, the man-bear).
I confess, I watched the English Dub version. This was a switch my brain off and enjoy some down time while I hung out with the dog kind of movie. Reading subtitles wasn't something I wanted to deal with. That said, it means I can't fairly judge the acting of the original cast. Some of the facial expressions are over the top and one moment the villain honestly just looks like he is listening to the director waiting to hear the word "action" or is rehearsing possible shocked faces and those takes somehow made it into the final film. Another place it's hard to gauge a dubbed movie is the script. Some dialogue may seem too formal for the situation or jokes just fall flat. Occasionally the story goes off on a weird tangent and you're not sure if it was written that poorly originally or if something was lost in the translation. I'm still not sure what everyone's super power really was. Not entirely, but was I distracted, was it never made it clear or was it not translated properly? I can't say.
So, without being able to be harsh on the story or acting I'm left judging the F/X and action. Let's face it, the 8 year old in me was watching for those elements anyway. Honestly, the only special F/X that disappointed were the were-bear. He just looked too cartoonish at times. But, when it comes to monsters I prefer a really complicated suit and that's just not how they do things anymore (most of the time). Also, I had that preconceived childhood notion of what a Russian man-bear would be. The rest of the graphics, from the battle drones that look like the Arachnids from "Starship Troopers" had a love child with Ed-209 of "Robocop" fame, to the real military planes and cities being destroyed, looked like either the best T.V. movies have to offer or the lower end of what you'd expect from big screen movies. Since this film's budget is rumored to be the equivalent of about $5 million, that's AMAZING. Really, it's a good looking movie all around.
A sequel is teased at and I , for one, want to see it. Like a reviewer on IMDB quipped, this movie is worth watching just to see a bear with a mini-gun (no spoiler there if you watched the trailer). Don't expect a great motive from the villain, don't expect a lot of originality concerning the character's super powers, how they got them or how they use them and do try to enjoy the silliness of the scenes during the first act when they're "getting the band back together".
If you can shut off your adult cynicism for awhile, I think you'll like this one. I've always wanted to do a super hero movie, but the closest I've gotten is probably Debbie Rochon as Colonel Onyx in the "Alien Vengeance" movies. Meanwhile, if you want to see "Guardians", I caught it on Amazon Prime.
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