Review of The Blackout

I was curious to see what a Russian scifi movie would be like. I've seen a few dramas, and they were usually pretty bleak. This one kind of was, but the ending I guess was 'hopeful'? The version I saw was an english dub, and the voices really didn't feel like they matched the actors, so if you can seek out the original language version, that might enhance the viewing experience. The direction is okay for this film. The action sequences and special effects are fairly decent. I would say on level of some Hollywood TV movies. But...one problem with this movie is the time jumps. This movie keeps jumping ahead without warning, or meaningful transitions, making it awkward to watch at times and confusing. One big example was one character had to be flown out of the battle zone, and head back to Moscow to recover from his injury. But it almost felt like the next scene he was back in the thick of the battle. It may have been a few scenes later, but that's the problem with the film, it's hard to get a sense of the passage of time with the jumps. It's almost as if it was made to be a 7 episode series of 1 hour episodes, and was edited down to 2 hrs. The other problem with the movie is the ending. The showdown between the two alien creatures was confusing enough, the explanations as to how Earth would be saved by killing the other bad alien who was controlling all the 'dead people', was also confusing. But then after they kill him, they start fighting each other. Eventually they kill the guy who helped them, but then a ship lands and just sits there. Huh? Wouldn't there be a crew on that ship to not only make sure the area was secured, but that the occupants were protected? So the survivors go onto the ship, start killing the occupants, but then stop as soon as they see the kids. The weird vag-faced children all awaken, cut to the end credits. Again, huh? So where is this supposed to go, they have no idea what these kids are going to eat, or if they'll be just as dangerous as their adult counterparts. Is this a set up for a sequel? lol So, if you are looking for a different non-Hollywood movie, this is a good one to see. But don't expect a clean, air-tight experience from the script or direction.