CGI is rarely convincing to me, but the alien at the center of 2020’s Sputnik is almost good enough to make me forget its DNA is all ones and zeroes.  This was even more of a surprise to me, as this is a Russian film, which I assume means less money went into it than the equivalent US production.

It helps that it has personality.  The scene in the film that won me over is when Oksana Akinskina tries to establish a base of communication with it by lowering herself until she is no taller than it.  The alien is intrigued.  She then keeps lowering herself further, and it mimics her movement until they are both lying on the floor, observing each other through thick glass.

She has been brought onto the project by a military official (Fedor Bondarchuk) to try to separate this alien parasite from its astronaut host (Pyotr Fyodorov).  Every night, sometime between 2:40 and 3:10 am, it emerges from his sleeping body without waking him.  So, it turns out that getting older and finding oneself having to get up and pee multiple times is not the worse thing that can happen to a person overnight.

The alien infected Fyodorov when he had been one of two men in a capsule so small that I assume they had to remain seated for the entire mission.  The other guy can’t wait to turn on the hot water tap and fill a bathtub when he gets back.  I thought that was cute, somebody who should know better thinking Russia has hot water straight from the tap.

 

Soon, there’s the sound of something walking around on the outside of their craft, which is extremely bizarre, as it had been floating above the Earth.  I had to forcefully turn off my disbelief to believe anything could have just latched onto the capsule in open space.

Akinskina has been tasked with separating the parasite from its host.  Bondarchuk does not have altruistic goals, only wanting to use the monster as a weapon.  Alas, there is a symbiotic relationship between the alien and its host, and that tie is stronger than anyone first suspects.

While there are a couple of action sequences, and a fair amount of gore, this is a largely a more thoughtful affair than I was expecting.  I wouldn’t go so far as to describe it as intellectual fare, but it would have definitely been dumber and louder if it had been made by a major studio here.

One reach too far is a subplot with Fyodorov’s illegitimate son, who is now motherless and placed in an orphanage.  There is an odd moment at the end that seems to impart a deeper meaning to this character’s presence, but it is unearned and, to the best I can determine, nonsensical. 

I don’t seem to have much more to say about Sputnik.  It snuck into the win column, but just barely.  I can’t help but think the one thing I will remember most about it long after I have seen it is a statement Fyodorov makes while in a trance, and that is when he declares himself to be Field General Robert Duvall.  Wow!  I didn’t know the actor had such a rich history beyond the screen.

Dir: Egor Abramenko

Starring Oksana Akinshina, Fedor Bondarchuk, Pyotr Fyodorov

Watched on Kanopy