Dark Planet (film)
Dark Planet | |
---|---|
STS | |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 115 minutes (part I) 100 minutes (part II) |
Country | Russia |
Language | Russian |
Budget | $36.6 million (both parts) |
Dark Planet (
The film was met with mixed reviews. It was praised for its visual style,
Plot summary
Part I
Year 2157.
Maxim learns that the name of the planet is
However, Maxim survives and joins a group of rebel "degenerates". During his time with the rebels, Maxim learns the true nature of the regime and the purpose of towers erected across the country. Contrary to state propaganda, the towers function as
After fighting alongside the "degenerates" in the attack on a tower, Maxim is again captured by the military and sentenced to a prison labor camp. There, inmates are tasked with cleaning the wilderness of automated defense systems that were left abandoned by decades of war. On a mission, Maxim manages to capture a mechanized tank. He drives the tank away from detention zone across the minefield, picks up Guy, and heads south to the neighbouring nations.
Part II
The second part is named Rebellion (Russian: Схватка, romanized: Skhvatka, lit. 'Skirmish'). It starts with a brief description of the first part plot.
Maxim reveals the true purpose of the towers to Guy, who does not believe at first but is convinced when his enthusiasm fades as they get farther from the towers. They arrive in a city ruined by atomic bombing and inhabited by mutants. Maxim tries to convince mutants to start a rebellion against the Unknown Fathers, but, being too weak, they refuse. Maxim then decides to seek help from another powerful country on Saraksh, the Islands Empire. Mutants give Maxim a bomber airship to fly for the Empire.
As Guy and Maxim travel the airship, Guy is again hit by the towers' radiation. He starts hysterically screaming of his loyalty to Maxim and hugging him. To stop it, Maxim collides the airship into the Tower and destroys it. After crash-landing at the shore, Maxim and Guy discover an abandoned Imperial White Submarine. There, they find evidence that Islands Empire is even worse mass-murdering fascist regime which would not help their goals.
Meanwhile, the Unknown Fathers are planning an invasion of the neighbouring country of Khonti. As soon as Maxim and Guy return to Fatherland, they are captured and sent to war along with fellow prisoners, where Guy is killed in action. Funk, following Strider's orders, finds Maxim and takes him out of the war back to the capital. Fatherland is defeated, and the State prosecutor, who was an active supporter of the war, realizes that the Unknown Fathers will execute him for failure. He contacts Maxim and reveals the location of the Tower Control Center, urging him to use it for a coup d'état. Maxim sneaks in, but instead of following the prosecutor's plan, he blasts the Center with explosives.
As he exits the Center, he is confronted by angry Strider. He berates and beats Maxim and reveals himself as undercover spy from Earth. Maxim, a well-intentioned amateur, ruined the plan to save Fatherland and the rest of the planet that Strider has been preparing for decades. Strider tells Maxim to fly home to Earth. Maxim refuses and offers his help on one condition: another brainwashing center can never be built. After a fight and a heated argument, Strider reluctantly agrees. The final sequence shows rebels overthrowing the Unknown Fathers.
Cast
The Unknown Fathers use nicknames, most of which are terms for different family relations.
- Maxim Kammerer (voiced by Maksim Matveyev)
- Yuliya Snigir as Rada Gaal
- Pyotr Fyodorov as Guy Gaal
- Rudolf Sikorski
- Fyodor Bondarchuk as State prosecutor aka Umnik (Smart)
- Sergey Garmashas Zef
- Gosha Kutsenko as Veper
- Andrei Merzlikinas Fank
- Mikhail Yevlanov as Rittmeister Chachu
- Anna Mikhalkova as Ordi Tader
- Sergei Barkovsky as Nolle Renadu
- Aleksey Gorbunov as Shurin (Brother-in-law (wife's brother))
- Maksim Sukhanov as Dad (Russian: Папа, romanized: Papa)
- Yuriy Tsurilo as the general
- Aleksandr Feklistov as Dever (Brother in law (husband's brother))
- Kirill Pirogov as Svyokor (Father in law (husband's father))
- Yevgeni Sidikhinas Teste (Father in law (wife's father))
- Sergei Mazayev as Voldyr
- Leonid Gromov as Gramenau
- Vasili Savinov as Lesnik
- Vyacheslav Razbegaev as Krysolov
- Dimash Akhimovas Behemoth
- Ignat Akrachkov as prosecutor's referent
- Anton Eskin as Oreshnik
Production
The film is a production of Art Pictures Studio, Non-Stop Production and STS channel, with special effects by EyeScream Studio, Main Road Post and Quantum Creation FX.
The production was filmed in Crimea, Ukraine, with photography lasting for 10 months (14 February – 7 December 2007). The film had a total budget of about $36.6 million, including $10 million for the film's promotion and $1 million of state donations.[1]
Reception
Dark Planet was met with mixed reviews. According to Russian review aggregator Kritikanstvo.ru, both parts hold an approximate approval rating around 6 of 10, based on 20 reviews.[2][3] Many critics praised the film for being surprisingly faithful to the novel. Some praised the film's visual effects and action, while others criticized the work of the director and editor. A Mir Fantastiki review called the film a "chaotic mash of visual, dramatical and musical components, each of which separately has quite high quality".[4] "As a result, the film is scattered throughout a sequence of "beautiful pictures" that do not shape an integrated view of the world", agrees Total DVD.[5] Vasiliy Stepanov's acting as Maxim was met with criticism, but some of the supporting actors, such as Serebryakov and Garmash, were praised.
The film was a relative commercial failure. Despite grossing around $30 million from two parts summarily[6][7] and ranking among the top-grossing films of Russia's modern cinema, it did not repay its budget of $36 million. The movie was released for home video very shortly after it exited theatres. According to Bondarchuk, this helped the film to become profitable eventually.[8]
Release
Due to the length of the story, the film was split in two parts: the first premiered on 18 December 2008 and the second on 23 April 2009. Bulldog Film Distribution released the film in February 2015, on 9 February as video on demand and on 16 February 2015 on DVD in the UK.[12]
References
- ^ "Island New Scifi movie: Inhabited Island". Quietearth.us. 16 August 2007. Retrieved 22 February 2009.
- ^ Критиканство: Обитаемый остров. Kritikanstvo.ru (in Russian). 23 April 2009. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
- ^ Критиканство: Обитаемый остров. Схватка. Kritikanstvo.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 29 October 2016.
- ^ Gavrilin, Oleg (February 2009). Кино наизнанку. Обитаемый остров. Фильм первый. Mir Fantastiki (in Russian). Vol. 66, no. 2. p. 66. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
- ^ Folin, Aleksandr (April 2009). Обитаемый остров. Фильм первый (PDF). Total DVD (in Russian). No. 97. p. 120.
В результате фильм рассыпается на последовательность «красивых картинок», не складывающихся в единую картину мира.
- KinoPoisk. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
- ^ "Обитаемый остров" (in Russian). KinoPoisk. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
- ^ Denisova, Marina (27 November 2009). Фёдор Бондарчук: «Мне знаком период безденежья». 7 Dney (in Russian). Archived from the original on 20 February 2012. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
- ^ Борис Стругацкий доволен экранизацией романа "Обитаемый остров" [Boris Strugatsky is glad about the film, based on The Inhabited Island novel] (in Russian). RIA Novosti. 26 December 2008. Retrieved 22 February 2009.
- ^ Vishnevskiy, Boris (22 January 2009). Стругацкий посмотрел «Обитаемый остров». И похвалил Бондарчука и его «банду» [Strugatsky saw The Inhabited Island. And praised Bondarchuk and his "band"]. Novaya Gazeta (in Russian). Retrieved 22 February 2009.
- ^ Livsi, Elena (12 January 2009). Борис Стругацкий: «Второй раз смотреть «Обитаемый остров» было даже интереснее» [Boris Strugatsky: "It was even more interesting to watch The Inhabited Island for a second time]. Komsomolskaya Pravda (in Russian). Retrieved 22 February 2009.
- ^ Gareth, Jones (17 February 2015). "Exclusive Dark Planet Clip Has Junk in the Trunk". Dread Central. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
External links
- Official website (archived link)
- Secondary official website Archived 2 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- Dark Planet at AllMovie
- Dark Planet at IMDb
- Dark Planet: Rebellion at IMDb
- Fyodor Bondarchuk Directing New Film – The Inhabited Island, Charles Ganske