Synopsis
At the height of the Cold War, a Soviet spacecraft crash lands after a mission gone awry, leaving the commander as its only survivor. After a renowned Russian psychologist is brought in to evaluate the commander’s mental state, it becomes clear that something dangerous may have come back to Earth with him…
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Cast
- Oksana AkinshinaTatyana Yuryevna
- Pyotr FyodorovKonstantin Veshnyakov
- Fyodor BondarchukSemiradov
- Anton VasilyevRigel
- Pavel UstinovConvoy
- Vitaliya KornienkoChild in Orphanage
- Aleksey DemidovKirill Averchenko
- Aleksandr MarushevPrisoner Ruben
- Albrecht SanderPrisoner Seriy
- Shamil MukhamedovAdjutant of Semiradov
Recommendations
- 88
RogerEbert.com
Luckily, the performances and characterizations add heft, and the very Russian vibe of soulful heaviness sets it apart from its American cousins. - 75
Chicago Tribune
The clever and nicely gory Sputnik comes from Russia with love, slime, and an impressive lesson in efficient, low-cost pulp filmmaking. - 70
The New York Times
While Sputnik doesn’t make its substantial borrowings from other sci-fi pictures entirely new, it does juice them up enough to yield a genuinely scary and satisfying experience. - 70
Film Threat
Despite all the flaws, Sputnik has one chief thing going for it: it holds your attention, from the first (and arguably best) twenty minutes, to the last (and arguably worst) twenty. - 70
Los Angeles Times
The film swerves from sci-fi to horror to psychological thriller to melodrama, but in a way, it works. It’s clear Abramenko wants to serve a full-course meal of a movie, and in stretching the dynamic range of emotion he hits on moments that are at times operatic and at others somewhat soapy. But in doing so, brings a new layer of story that makes Sputnik feel epic. - 67
Austin Chronicle
In an era where so many horror films are anchored in the aesthetics of Eighties American cinema, Sputnik establishes itself as an especially polished work of retro-futurism. - 60
Rolling Stone
You’ve seen this before. Think of it as a potent dose of sci-fi/horror Methadone to keep the withdrawals at bay. - 60
Variety
Abramenko maintains the film’s finite appeal throughout, mostly thanks to a familiar aura and a charismatic lead performance by Oksana Akinshina, a fine surrogate for the tough-as-nails heroine Ellen Ripley.
