[DVD Review (R2)] Black Lightning
I first heard about Black Lightning around the time of it’s theatrical release in Russia in 2009, when I saw the domestic trailer (not that I understood a word of what was going on as my Russian is non-existent) & I thought it looked great. This was helped by the fact that one of the Producers of the film is Timur Bekmambetov, the director of Night Watch, Day Watch & Wanted (three films that I really like) & that I am a sucker for superhero films. So when the Region 2 DVD release dropped through my letter box I was really excited to see if the film that took more at the Russian box office than Twilight & Harry Potter on it’s release in 2009 was as good as it looked.
Plot
It’s 2004 in Moscow & low middle-class teenager Dima (Grigoriy Dobrygin) wants a car to help him impress the new girl in his college class, Nastya (Ekaterina Vilkova), as she seems to be impressed with his friend Maks’ (Ivan Zhidkov) Mercedes.
So on his birthday when his mother & father present him with a set of car keys of his own he is ecstatic – right until the moment he walks outside his home & discovers that the car his father has bought for him is an old, beat up Volga.
Hiding his disappointment, Dima starts to use the car to deliver flowers, after a speech at his college by local business man Kuptsov (Viktor Verzhbitskiy) inspires him, to earn enough money to buy his own car & win the girl. During one of his deliveries he discovers that his beaten up old car has a secret – it can fly!
At first, Dima uses the cars power to help him become the best flower delivery man in Moscow, but when his father is murdered he realises with such power comes a certain responsibility & he starts to use the car to save people, becoming known to the public as “Chernaya Molniya” (Black Lightning). But these heroics bring him to the attention of Kuptsov, who is more than he seems, who wants the Nano-Catalyst, the power at the heart of Black Lightning developed by Russian scientists during the Cold War, for his own ends – as he is desperate to utilise the catalyst to obtain access to a vein of diamonds which runs under the city, an act that could potentially destroy Moscow.
Now it’s up to Black Lightning to stop Kuptsov before he can destroy everything he holds dear.
Review
OK, let’s get the obvious criticism out of the way first. Yes, Black Lightning does share quite a few story elements with Spider-Man, which should count against it in many ways, but strangely enough it doesn’t.
Yes, it’s a familiar story, but it’s not like Hollywood doesn’t raid it’s own ideas more often than not so why shouldn’t the Russian movie industry mine the same source? And if you’re going to create a superhero film, then it does kind of make sense to use the story of one of the Worlds best known superheros as a basis?
Sure, it would have been better if the story had been “inspired by” a little less & “original” a little more, but the basing of the origin of Black Lightning on Spider-Man wasn’t a deal breaker for me.
So getting past that, what was the film actually like?
Directors & writers Dmitriy Kiselev & Aleksandr Voytinskiy have done a credible job at attempting to create an “original” Russian superhero, the action is competent, with some very excitingly filmed sequences around the Volva (which you would hope, as there is nothing worse than sitting down to watch a film about a flying car & there not being any flying car action) and, while their inexperience does show through in a few places, as there are a few moments which don’t flow quite as you would expect, or moments that stretch credibility to almost breaking point (but then, we’re dealing with a film centred around a flying car, so how much credibility was there to begin with?).
The cast do a good job, too. Viktor Verzhbitskiy, who also played the villainous role in Night Watch, seems to be having a great time as the duplicitous Kuptsov, and he does seem to enjoy chewing on the scenery, which he does in every scene he is in.
Likewise, Grigoriy Dobrygin who plays Dima is a more than credible hero. When the film starts he is your typical teenager, and as you would expect in their early scenes Kuptsov easily dominates him but as the film progresses & Dima becomes more responsible & grown up he starts to hold his own & come to equal Kuptsov, and Dobrygin easily pulls this off in a very believable way.
But the real star here is the Volga & it’s aerial antics. Sure, some of the CGI does occasionally look a little “off”, but for a film that was produced on a budget a lot less than you would use for a Hollywood action film most of the time it is exceptional. All of the flying scenes are exciting, and I couldn’t wait until the next time Dima & the car would take off as it is these moments that the film soars above it’s shortcomings.
Closing Credits
This is a fun film, with some great action sequences which proves once again that the Russian film makers can produce films that can compete on equal terms with bigger budget releases from America.
If you’re after something a little different, but not so different that you won’t enjoy it, then this fun action film is certainly one to pick up, & I’d do so before the American remake (which, by the way, is being directed by Timur Bekmambetov) is finished & released. But please, when you do watch it, please watch the original Russian language subtitled version & not the dubbed version. Trust me, it’s a lot better.
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