Rewind Review – The Guardians (Защитники; 2017)
It’s hard not to compare a film like The Guardians (Rus.: Защитники “The Defenders”) to other genre films. I see parallels to Marvel’s The Avengers, Warner’s Suicide Squad, and others—like The Fantastic Four, Justice League, and X-Men, to name a better-known few. Team-building elements—including taking disparate individuals and forcing them into a situation where the only way they can survive is by working together—and baseline superhero tropes are present, as well as a supervillain who’s practically a caricature of popular villain tropes (megalomaniacal, larger-than-life, legions of faceless fodder at his disposal).
That said, all these click to give Guardians a unique, relatively-harsher look at the lives of these fictional super-humans.
Much like Captain America: Civil War (2016) finally brought grounding to the actions of the Avengers—showed the sometimes-dire consequences of their exploits out in the world—here, we see the real-life struggles of people who were (against their will, mind you; this was Cold War Russia) “gifted” with special abilities, used, and then discarded by the homeland they were commissioned to protect. As we learn through the tellings of their backstories—the 50 years that have passed since their inception—the Guardians have had no shortage of hardship: Isolation, economic desperation, relative societal alienation, and one having watched loved ones die while he stays relatively the same age. These facts make them more human, more relatable; it’s easy to look up to someone like Captain America or Batman…but can we really relate to them—on a personal level, I mean? Each of the Guardians have a motivation for going up against supervillain and mastermind behind their bastard inception, Kuratov, as each has a personality and room to explore further characterization in sequel films.
The cast is great. The English dub voice actors are pretty spot-on, as well; there’s always that lip-sync problem with dubs, but that’s inherent and can’t be criticized—just look at what Toho’s done with their Godzilla films, how much they’ve profited off that camp aspect. Most of the performances—physical or vocal—are, overall, great; only a few that seemed cardboard or half-baked, but the main cast of heroes is phenomenal. I won’t name of filmographies (since they’re all foreign, in every sense of the word), but these people became instantly recognizable to me—I could pick each and every one out of a line-up, and I definitely wouldn’t mind seeing them on-screen again. I got really hyped for the final showdown, especially after they each get their special-tailored super-suits and get stronger in that awesome training montage!
Tracking down this Blu-Ray was hard enough (what, with the old-school regional restrictions holding back free trade and all…), but, boy, was the effort worth it.
The cinematography is beautiful, showcasing “old” and “new Russia”—the pieces time forgot, and the present-day direction the country is headed in. Practical effects and CGI are amazing, for an estimated shoestring budget of ₽380M ($6M U.S.). It’s obvious the filmmakers knew how to stretch their dollar—that’s a crazy low budget, especially if it were made here, in the States. However, they do well in crafting a world for a stand-alone superhero film, with what little time there is to do it in. I felt immersed, I felt like I was there.
Plot-holes and conveniences, aside…
Granted, I’ve been excited since it happened across my radar, but I thoroughly enjoyed this film—moreso than I thought I would. The villain, Kuratov, feels like an amalgamation of a bunch of different inspirations and tropes, but they work together. It’s almost a satire of supervillains everywhere. His use of old-Russia technology and military might—the desire to control and subjugate his “lesser” brethren exemplifies such.
Old ghosts come back to haunt Mother Russia…whereas the Guardians put their abilities to work together to ultimately defeat Kuratov—their Doctor Doom, their Ultron. Cold War versus new-age imagery further emphasizes this contrast in ideals—like the filmmakers are making a statement on putting the “old ways” to rest, forming a new union to protect against the weirder threats to come.
…And they will come; though it didn’t go over well with critics—and kind of bombed, domestically, in Russia—a sequel has been confirmed, and is welcome, based on the end-credits sequel-bait. I can’t wait!
The score and two tracks on the IMDb soundtrack list, too, are great. Heavy and demeaning when it needs to be, soft and elegant when the more emotional scenes come up.
An original concept with plenty of call-backs and nods to its many inspirations, The Guardians is a refreshing take on the quickly-stagnating idea of the superhero blockbuster. Overlooking the beginning expo-dump in favor of the original idea presented therein, Guardians gets a final—and well-deserved—*****/ final ‘Risk Assessment.
Camp and comedic when the plot calls for, as it is emotional and raw, I highly recommend this piece. I got my copy on Amazon—weirdly enough, though, it only played on my PS4 Blu-Ray player, not my Xbox One. Just a tip—won’t mess up your machine, just takes some trialing.
Enjoy!
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIc0NqjOPgc&w=560&h=560]Next review: TBA
