Guardians (film)

Plot

During the Cold War, a secret organization "Patriot" gathered a team of Soviet superheroes, altering and augmenting the DNA of four individuals, in order to defend the homeland from supernatural threats.

The team includes representatives of the different nationalities of the Soviet Union, while each one of them have long been hiding their true identity. In hard times, they gathered again to defend their homeland.

Cast

Sebastien Sisak as Ler (Armenian for mountain).

Landman. He is armed with all forms of earth manipulation abilities, and is able to control stone and soil, collect dust from boulders, stop falling rocks, and move mountains. He can cause rocks of any size and amount to levitate and fly as if weightless, as well as orbit him. He can cause the ground to break apart under his enemies feet with great precision in what parts break and what shape the subsequent depression makes. This allows him to form instant craters, canyons, ravines, and sink holes to fight his opponents, though these formations are usually small in scale. Being able to cause quakes and tremors in the ground beneath his opponents, such as making the ground under them erupt and explode. He can summon rock onto his body, covering himself in rock to make an exoskeletal armor to physically enhance himself. Along with his abilities, he is armed with a small chain with a large rock cemented on its end, which he can use as a type of flail. Like the rest of the team, he was given a special costume to increase his effectiveness and abilities, as well as an extendable chain of rocks linked together by blue energy.

Anton Pampushnyy as Ursus

Wildman. Ursus (Latin for bear) is a type of berserker or werebear, and has the ability to transform himself into a large bear, though he can control how much of his body is transformed and can transform partially if he wills it. This transformation ability can allow him to seamlessly alter his size, bulk and musculature and transform himself into a burly humanoid, as well as use his transformations to physically augment himself. He has multiple phases of transformation due to his ability to partially transform. His phases can make him physically a hybrid between bear and human, such as giving him the head, paws and bulk of a bear and the shape of a man. He can use his inhuman physicality to fight, especially when he is full bear form. With this, no normal person can physically overpower him and he is immune to their strength. Desperate, loyal and determined, he is known for his drive to "break the enemy into small pieces". Like the rest of the team, he was given a special costume to increase his effectiveness and abilities. Part of this costume's equipment is a hand-held minigun and its battery pack, both of which are harnessed to his torso for battle, while he carries them both his back when fully transformed. Even while not transformed, he is shown to be strong enough to wield the large weapon and its power source.

Sanzhar Madiyev as Khan

Windman. Masterfully skilled with all kinds of blades, as well as with many kinds of martial arts. Along with other blades, he is primarily armed with twin, crescent like blades, each of which resemble a scimitar, scythe or sickle and can be joined at the hilts to form a double bladed weapon. The strong blades can slice through the metal of cars with enough force and without going blunt or being damaged. He is also physically augmented, possessing a degree of superhuman strength that allows him to smash through brick walls with a single punch and send men flying through the air with his attacks, as well as superhuman mobility that gives him acrobatic and gymnastic capabilities and the ability to effortlessly dodge and evade attacks, even gunfire at point blank range. He also possesses inhuman speed, enough that he almost appears to teleport. Using his speed requires him first to focus hard, achieving a meditative state that causes his eyes to turn completely white and allowing him to perceive faster than any human can. While in this state, he sees everything as being in slow motion while he himself moves at normal speed, or somewhat faster. Whenever he moves in this state, a black gaseous trail appears behind him to outline his movements. His strength and speed allows him to generate enough force to slice a car and anyone in it in two with his blades. Like the rest of the team, he was given a special costume to increase his effectiveness and abilities.

Alina Lanina as Xenia

Waterwoman. Flexible and agile, to a superhuman degree, making her a skilled acrobat, gymnast, and even martial artist. She has the ability to move on water as if it were solid ground, as well as to seamlessly floating through it as it if were air. This gives her higher mobility in water compared to the fastest, or most maneuverable sea creature. She cannot feel temperature differences and can survive in an airless vacuum, which allows her to survive underwater without any negative effects. She can also transform her body into a clear, transparent water like liquid, use it defensively or offensively. This ability allows her to become gelatinous and viscous, allowing her to flow like liquid, while being able to physical touch and interact at the same time. In this form, her body becomes silhouetted and nearly featureless, with her hair disappearing and the only features on her being her eyes, ears and nose. In addition, her transparency can be enough for her to turn invisible, while she also wears a special costume designed also become invisible with her.

Valeriya Shkirando as Head of "Patriot" Secret organization.

Vyacheslav Razbegaev as Major-general Nikolai Dolgov

Stanislav Shirin as August Kuratov.

Main antagonist. Owns a machine named "Modul-1" which allows him to control any technical equipment by generating electric-like energy. He decides to build his own army of clones in order to capture Moscow, in preparation to control the whole world. In addition, he is armed with a mechanized exoframe-like harness that enhances his physical abilities to the point where he could overpower Ler/Landman while the latter is using his rock exoskeleton.

Filming

Filming began on April 27, 2015, in Moscow while the casting process was concluded earlier in this year. Filming was continued in Moscow Oblast and in the Crimean Peninsula, and was wrapped on July 14, 2015.

Box office

Guardians were released February 23, 2017. Though it was thursday, it was a public holiday in Russia, Defender of the Fatherland Day. On its first day, the movie grossed 83 million RUB, and 213 million RUB in first four days, below early expectations, but still at the top of the weekend box office. On its second weekend, Guardians box office dropped 90% down to 21 million RUB, and fourth place.

Reception

The reception of Guardians was overwhelmingly negative. The film was almost universally panned in Russian media, such as Meduza, Afisha Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Mir Fantastiki, among others. It was mainly criticized for having a derivative plot, cheap CGI, plot holes and overall low quality. Critics outside Russia were only slightly kinder to Guardians. Reviews in Times of India, Birth Movies Death and Mid-Day.com were negative.

Sequel

A sequel, Guardians 2, has been greenlit, with Turbo Films, the Chinese distributor of the first film, as a co-production company. It will reportedly be partially shot in China and have some Chinese characters.