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.

I fumbled by this title several times while looking for something to watch using my streaming movie service. Finally, I decided to at least give it a try and WOW, was I surprised.I knew that there were Russian films out there but I didn't know that they were THIS good. This is an AWESOME sci-fi movie. It had action, romance (Ekaterina Vilkova was absolutely STUNNING)and excitement.The special effects were great and added to the excitement. I really love movies like this and am really disappointed that I didn't watch it earlier. I will be looking for more Russian Sci-fi in the future!I highly recommend this film. You WILL love it!

I was absolutely amazed by this movie. It's spectacular, it's funny, it's exciting, it's extremely fast-paced, the main actors are cute and good-looking and they really can act, the special effects are excellent and the sound blows you out-off your chair. And guess what...?! It's Russian!!! Yip, I didn't even notice it at first when I bought the DVD. The title was in English and so was the story on the cover. It sounded like an average low-budget scifi that could be fun, so I didn't look any further. The first 5 minutes I even thought that they were speaking Russian to give it some authentic feel, and that the story soon would turn to the US or England. But when they kept on speaking Russian, I checked the cover once again and it dawned at last. It IS Russian! Wow, was I wrong with all my (unfounded) prejudices about Russian movies: that they were probably all bleak and boring and that the special effects would still date from the stone age and that Russian actors would probably all look plain and talk incomprehensible dribble. I'm deeply ashamed and with this movie I stand terribly corrected: it's simply great on every account. Okay, the premise may be far-fetched and a bit childish (a young student accidentally gets hold of a terribly old car that's dug up from a ditch, to find that it contains some extraordinary top-secret fuel that makes it fly like a star-fighter; the Very Bad Guy hunts him down to get hold of it, while the student decides to use his car as some superhero-device to rescue people). But isn't that the same with movies like Transformers or Percy Jackson? In movies like this the story is just the frame, it's the spectacular special effects that count. And in that department you will most certainly not be disappointed, the CGI is absolutely top-of-the-bill!Considering the story, you would expect such a movie to be rather one-dimensional: just lots of action and maybe some humor to counter-balance. I know many movies where this is the case (like the afore-mentioned Percy Jackson - amazing how so much action could end up as such a tedious bore!), but here in Black Lightning there are actually more layers, albeit - thank god! - not rammed in our face, but nicely dispersed through the movie in a pleasantly subtle way. Like when our (anti-)hero Dima has to compete for the love of a girl and painfully learns that there are limits as to how far you can go. Or when he tries to accomplish a fortune by working so hard that he neglects his caring little family and has to pay for this with the knowledge that he was too late to save his dying father. Or the way he handles his suddenly becoming a hailed but anonymous superhero: should he come-out in the open to impress and win his beloved? There are many moments of insight and warmth, that give the movie something extra besides being a slick action-movie. Grigoriy Dobrygin as Dima is perfect: he is cute and handsome in a boy-next-door kind of way, he's adorable as he stumbles through his infatuation with Nastya, he can be serious and funny, but he is equally convincing in his role as a vengeful superhero. Ekaterina Vilkova as Nastya is just adorable in every aspect, and radiantly beautiful to boot. Come to think of it: almost all the other supporting roles are played flawlessly: the parents, the cute little sister, the arrogant best friend and the Bad Guy, and the whole movie is filled with a fine sense of irony that makes you smile all of the time.Well, just go and watch it and enjoy! And by the way: don't put the DVD on the English sound, which gives Dima an annoyingly high-pitched voice. Stick to the authentic Russian track, it only heightens the pleasure!

When I finally got around to see this movie, I was expecting something decent, because of it's high budget, and nice trailer, I must say I was disappointed. It was too ridiculous in so many ways. I would like to elaborate on some scenes and the acting. The good: Special effects. Nice graphics, It's Bekmabetov third movie (night watch, wanted) with cars making acrobatic skills. It became his trade mark. The mediocre: General Story. If we compare spider man and this one the only difference will be instead of spider bite, it's Old secret soviet technology. The mediocre: Acting. There are few different schools of acting. Russian definitely differs from the one in Hollywood. I think it'll look quite not real for people used to Hollywood movies and it was too weak. The bad: various scenes in the story. Truly, in few parts I actually felt my intelligence was in serious danger. Flying into space and not burning up, nor obvious visible lack of air. Immediate control of flying cars on level which can possibly be achieved by advanced computer in a distant future. Sheep like behavior of people during ENTIRE movie (that is just the bad acting). The hero had a lot of time to climb out of car, climb into the car, destroy walls and all without a scratch. Finally, flying with device of power much greater than nuclear, and nothing - this one made me laugh for some reason. I can go on for a long time... In any case, this was very ridiculous, but I've seen worse. Watch it just for special effects. They are nice.