We’re all going to die. And if you decide to sit through this crashingly loud apocalyptic Russian sci-fi, you may find yourself willing the fate of the Earth to hurry on up. It opens in Moscow in the nearish future, a neon cityscape where flying cars zip past glass skyscrapers. Off-duty soldier Oleg (Aleksey Chadov) is on a date in a swanky penthouse restaurant when planes start dropping out of the sky. Without warning, the world is plunged into darkness – everywhere except Moscow and the surrounding area. From here a garbled and very boring plot is spun.
A month passes and the Russian military is still scrambling to respond to the threat from … what? Terrorism? Nuclear war? Natural disaster? Everyone outside the Moscow safe area is presumed dead. Over 99% of humanity wiped out. Oleg is sent into the quarantine zone around Moscow with an elite recon unit to gather intelligence, and joined by taxi driver reservist Yura (Pyotr Fyodorov). After passing through eerily deserted towns they are suddenly pitted against a zombified horde of people in a series unrelenting and thunderously macho action sequences.
Back at military headquarters it’s becoming increasingly clear that the cause of this cataclysm is extraterrestrial. A small number of survivors are receiving messages from a mysterious being, who is controlling the minds of the attacking hordes. The film’s most interesting character is a female military top brass, Lieutenant Osmolovskaya (Kseniya Kutepova). She makes contact with the alien – who turns out to be the bearer of some disconcerting news about humanity. A ropey film can be saved by a great ending; this is not that movie, but the closing scene is unexpectedly moving. It’s too little, much too late.
Released on digital formats on 28 December.
