Review: Black Lightning (or, Chernaya Molniya)

[feliciakw]

Just got done watching an action/adventure/"superhero" movie called (in English) Black Lightning. It's a really fun little movie (eh, not so "little" in the FX department, really) about a college student, Dima (which I think is short for Dmitry), whose father gives him a car for his birthday. The car in question, however, appears to be an old, beat up jalopy, a black 1966 Volga. (George's and my first reaction to the car was, "That's a really cool car." "I'd take one of those in a heartbeat," Geo said. "Needs some work," I added, when the glove compartment wouldn't stay shut.)

As it turns out, this car was part of a research project years earlier (that part is at the beginning of the movie, but I hadn't settled in yet) for an invention called a nanocatalyst. Basically, a super-powered power source that fits in your hand. (Think: flux capacitor.) As a result, the car flies.

Well, Dima, in his young, college-aged hubris decides to ignore his father's example of helping people in need to follow the advice of a guest lecturer which amounts to "Look out for Number One." And through this hubris, Dima unknowingly refuses to call for medical help when his father (unbeknownst to Dima) is attacked by a mugger and knifed.

When Dima discovers what has happened, he starts using his car as a vehicle (no pun intended) to help people, fight crime, etc.

There's a plot about the baddie wanting the flux capacitor nanocatalyst to power a giant drill so he can drill thorough the foundation of Moscow to get to the diamonds underneath. And there's the love story of the girl Dima is in love with, who doesn't know that he's really Black Lightening, etc.

All in all, a really fun movie that George found at one of our thrift shops. Superhero movies aren't really my thing, but I enjoyed this one.

We watched it with subtitles, as we prefer subtitles to dubbing whenever available. (The problem this time around being that these were subtitles for the hearing impaired, so they described the other sounds, too--screaming, music, singing, etc. So that got a little bit annoying. Also, they went really quickly and I didn't always have enough time to read all the dialogue.) And I was somewhat struck by the black hoodie Dima wore when he was out driving being Black Lightning. It reminded me a bit of Arrow's hood on Arrow, but more to the point, he bore a resemblance to Jensen in his Dark Angel days when Alec wore a hoodie.

I thought it was really interesting how it had an American superhero story feel to it, thinking that it was a matter of the two countries using similar formulas for their storytelling. Then when we were watching the extras, the producer made a comment about using an American superhero format to the story. "Huh," I thought. "So they did use the American superhero formula."

Anyway, if you happen to find it, it's a good popcorn movie.

Comments

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

Aw, this sounds awesome. I'm making a note to put it in our Movie Nite movie bowl (if/when that ever gets going again).

Thanks so much for the rec!

[leelust.livejournal.com]

Haha, interesting that you watched it and i didn't cause here it had not so good reviews. But i'm glad you liked it.
2 moments. 1) not Dimitry, Dmitry and 2) i wouldn't think you'd enjoy Volga (esp that old) all that much being inside :) It's rougher than US cars and if the road is bad you feel every pit in it.

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

I can see how it might not get good reviews. It's very formulaic and pretty predictable. But the characters were likable, and it was a very traditional good-vs.-evil storyline. It kept me interested, and it was fun.

Ah, thank you for the spelling. Will correct.

The car itself looks really cool, a similar body shape to some of our classic cars. (It looked kind of 1940s to me. I was a little surprised when Geo told me it was a '66.) He likes old cars a lot. Sounds like one would have to upgrade the suspension, if possible. But when Dima got it all painted and slicked up, it was pretty sharp. I rather liked the hood ornament.

Also, the movie had some pretty neat visuals. Unfortunately, I couldn't really appreciate them because my attention was split between watching the movie and reading subtitles.

The producer on the movie also produced an animated feature we really like, 9, and I think that's what caught Geo's attention when he picked up the movie at the thrift shop.

It's not what I'd call a "great" movie, but it was fun. It's a decent popcorn matinee or "unwind and the end of a horrific workday" movie.

[leelust.livejournal.com]

I think less good reviews were cause it was too *american* if you know what i mean. People here if they want to watch something loike that can always pick US movies, originals so to speak. But i can also see why for some people it can be interesting to watch.
If you'll go rare movie hunting again (sort of) you can look for our movie Metro. It's (how do you call it?) a movie about water flooding Moscow underground. Too simple of course but i think it was well done FX-wise and a dog there is adorable ;)

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

Ah, okay. I can see that, too.

It's not really the same, but kind of like what we do. The American movie industry so often takes foreign movies and Americanizes them, which sometimes drives me up a wall. We can be kind of ethnocentric anyway, but Americanizing (and sometimes "dumbing down") stuff that works so well in it's original format is part of the reason why we have that problem, I think.

For example, Let the Right One In is a really cool Swedish (?) vampire movie, and if you get the one with the right (more accurate?) subtitles, it's really awesome! And it was so well received that within a year or two, a studio had bought the rights to re-make it into an American version, Let Me In, which I haven't seen, partly on principle. Sometimes the transfer from one culture to another can be interesting, especially if it puts a different spin on things or brings a different facet to life. But if it's just done for the sake of making it more "palatable" to an American audience (and profitable to the company), that's when I get a little bit annoyed. (The first time Mad Max, which is an Australian film, was released in the States, they re-dubbed all the dialogue--which was in English, of course--because the studio was afraid that Americans wouldn't be able to understand the Australian accents. I saw the dubbed version and was very unimpressed. Then I saw the real version, with the real soundtrack and actor's voices, and it was pretty darn awesome.)

That's why I thought it was really interesting that Black Lightning had an "American" feel to it, since it was a Russian movie made in the context of--I assume--the Russian culture. I thought it was something similar in Russian storytelling. Then the producer said that they did indeed use the American superhero formula, and I still thought it was interesting, because they took an American formula and placed it in a Russian setting. I just thought it was pretty neat, that it could work in either setting equally well. But maybe I'm mistaken.

I also asked Geo today about the Volga, and told him what you'd said about the hard ride. He laughed and said, "Oh, they're awful" and said that the American equivalent would be a Vega or a Chevette (which have reputations for not being very good, and aren't really impressive). But he still thinks it'd be fun to have one. The body design reminds him of a Willys. (Having looked up Willys, I agree that the body of a 1930s Willys looks a lot like the car in the movie.)

I'll ask Geo if he's ever heard of Metro. From your brief description, it sounds like a disaster movie, which is another genre whose popularity goes in phases.

[leelust.livejournal.com]

I know that problem :) Sometimes americanization is good esp when they take the subject and tell a different story with it (maybe slightly different but still) and sometimes it sucks pretty bad.
I don't watch vamp movies but i saw the trilogy about a girl with a dragon tatoo (original one) and really liked it and when US made their version i didn't watch it on principle cause for me there's only one Rapace and no one can replace her.

But otoh i saw british Sherlock and also US kind of version of it Elementary and liked them both.

No, the stories about superheroes isn't in Russian culture at all so anything with it is an influence of US culture.

Yes, a disaster movie! Nothing special but it was done pretty well for that type of movies here and i wasn't bored watching it (felt so deep for that little dog).