Black Lightning

A flying Volga? Right, that is what I initially thought too. But after sitting through this Russian action adventure, I must say that I was pleasantly surprised with the movie as a whole, because it turned out to be quite alright.

Dima receives an old Volga for his birthday, a car that he is not too fond of. One day while delivering flowers, Dima finds out that the car actually possess an incredible ability unlike other cars; the ability to fly. But the source of power fueling the car is sought after by shadowy people who will stop at nothing to obtain this item.

"Black Lightning" has elements of "Back to the Future", "The Fifth Element" and even "Spiderman" to it, sure, but it is still original in its own right.

While it is a Russian movie, that should not be a reason to skip out on watching the movie, because it is fun and entertaining.

Visually then "Black Lightning" is quite a treat for the eyes. The effects are realistic and believable - well as far as a flying car would be, I suppose. The special effects team really made this movie come to life on the screen.

I can't claim to be familiar with any to he actors or actresses in the movie, and as such it was nice to have something brand new to experience without being colored by previous roles, movies and performances by people in the movie.

"Black Lightning" is well-worth spending an hour and forty minutes on. Wholesome fun and entertainment all around.

Take the Spiderman movie, replace New York with Moscow, the spider suit with a flying GAZ-21 Volga, the green goblin by some billionaire in a flying Mercedes, throw in a bit of Iron Man, Batman as well as Transformers.... and you pretty much get "Chernaya Molniya".

Say what you want, but this movie is just a Russian cocktail, throwing together several of the recent American superhero movies. Only, "Chernaya Molniya" is actually better, but I can't really pin down exactly why. Is it the Russian music, the Russian humor or just the overall exotic nature of a big budget comic style movie taking place in the heart of Moscow, with Russian actors and spoken in Russian?

I don't know or care, really. All I can say is that I enjoyed this movie, in spite of its very cliché plot, its very cliché action scenes and its strangely familiar Hollywood style atmosphere. For those who're in the mood for some light entertainment but are tired of the same old Hollywood crap, this film is something like a subtle breath of fresh air. It has all the familiar plot twists, all the clichés and the same atmosphere of a comic style Hollywood blockbuster movie, but it's served by a Russian cast and a Russian director... that in some way makes it not just bearable but even enjoyable to a guy like me who's tired of the same old Hollywood crap.

But maybe that's just me. Hate it or like it... but this is a movie I'm sure you'll remember.

I absolutely loved this movie! I'm Russian and speak Russian but was not born there, nor have I ever visited. It was an amazing experience for me to see modern Moscow rather than seeing it solely in old Russian classics. The main actors acted VERY well and were VERY good-looking. Some might argue that the plot is a copy of other superhero movies, BUT: every story will always be similar to another. What matters most is the execution. I loved the morals (gently incorporated into the plot) and the action was great. The person-to-person dialogue was very natural and often put a smile on my face. I hate gory movies so this was perfect for me. Definitely go watch it, it's a MUST see!

By the way, I'm giving it a 9/10 instead of 10/10 due to some scientific inaccuracies.

First of all, I didn't realize it was Russian. It was dubbed in English so there were no annoying sub-titles. There were a few times when they show a newspaper headline or something on a computer that was in Russian, but it didn't take away from the story. The young man who played Black Lightning looked amazingly like Hayden Christenson from Jumper and the second set of Star Wars movies. He was very good in the role and he could easily play in American movies if he spoke English. His girlfriend was adorable as well. The special effects were not top notch but good enough to make the movie enjoyable. And of course there was the character you loved to hate, the evil rich guy who wanted to use the Black Lightning secrets, well, I can't tell you why. All in all, it was a very enjoyable movie.

Black Lightning was a long way from perfect. The story is very derivative and does get rather predictable, while the ending is a little rushed and over-complicated(perhaps too much going on in the script and the action) and a lot of the special effects are rather hokey and more at home in the late 80s-early 90s. The script, while having some great ironic humour, can feel empty and awkward-sounding at times too. Black Lightning is slickly shot though, with a convincing setting. The Russian heavy-metal soundtrack pulsates through the film with great energy and is quite catchy as well, and the pacing is fine. The action is fun and exciting to watch if occasionally a little cheesy, and the ironic humour in the script is funny and endearing. The characters are derivative and clichéd like the story but still quite engaging, the hero and his love interest are likable and the villain(though his motivation does come across as rather silly) does give an aura of creepiness. The acting is good, especially from Grigory Dobrygin and Viktor Verzhbitsky, though Ekaterina Vilkova is visually gorgeous and at least adequate. All in all, derivative with some hokey effects and a rushed solution, but fun, slick and well played. Partially recommended but try not to over-think too much. 6/10 Bethany Cox