Black Lightning was a long way from perfect. The story is very derivative and does get rather predictable, while the ending is a little rushed and over-complicated(perhaps too much going on in the script and the action) and a lot of the special effects are rather hokey and more at home in the late 80s-early 90s. The script, while having some great ironic humour, can feel empty and awkward-sounding at times too. Black Lightning is slickly shot though, with a convincing setting. The Russian heavy-metal soundtrack pulsates through the film with great energy and is quite catchy as well, and the pacing is fine. The action is fun and exciting to watch if occasionally a little cheesy, and the ironic humour in the script is funny and endearing. The characters are derivative and clichéd like the story but still quite engaging, the hero and his love interest are likable and the villain(though his motivation does come across as rather silly) does give an aura of creepiness. The acting is good, especially from Grigory Dobrygin and Viktor Verzhbitsky, though Ekaterina Vilkova is visually gorgeous and at least adequate. All in all, derivative with some hokey effects and a rushed solution, but fun, slick and well played. Partially recommended but try not to over-think too much. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Grigoriy Dobrygin was my motive for renting this film. I loved him so much in How I Ended This Summer that I wanted to see how he got his start. Well here it is: a complete rip-off of Spider-Man's plot, Batman's brooding, and every cheap young-love romance you've ever seen come out of Hollywood. Loaded with product placement and completely lacking in riveting characters. Funny...the acting was really decent, which is surprising given the empty script they had to work with. Probably preferred by people who aren't like me. If you hate arty films or deep characters or decent, interesting plot lines, and if well-executed special effects and a cheesy villain that looks suspiciously like Vladimir Putin are enough for you, enjoy.

After the huge disappointment of Kick-Ass, I was pleasantly surprised by this little film from Russia. Don't want to give anything away, as I watched it knowing nothing about the movie and that was the best way to watch it. Sure, it borrows heavily from other hero movies, but the acting and the old fashioned heroics were enjoyable.Special effects I found to be excellent, especially some of the smoke trails. The bad guy in this movie is the same bad guy from the Nightwatch/Daywatch movies, also highly recommended.If you want to chuckle a bit, and have a few moments where you smile and murmur "Cool!", and want to root for the good guy to win the girl in the end, then I can recommend this movie.

Let's pretend for a moment that it's 1999. There is no Spiderman. The last Batman movie with Mr Freeze is a recent but quickly fading memory and we have not even heard of Chris Nolan...well outside of Australia at least, and the only thing we know of the transformers is that it's a plastic robot toy from the 80s that used to...hang on, that's right, turn into a truck or something... I'd also be 11 years younger and perhaps a little less cynical and forgiving of schmaltzy, clichéd stuff. So, in this imaginary world where we have a time traveling De Lorean or equivalent, I would have walked out of Black Lightning and thought "Man, what a cool movie. Those Russians really are breakthrough...how awesome was that!". "Yes it's a bit back to the future, but who cares...that was FUN!!"...Except it's not 1999, and I am 11 years older. I've seen Spiderman where he discovers his gee whiz powers, where his gr amps gets killed, with great power comes great responsibility, etc. I've seen transformers where a beat up old car becomes something awesome. And i've heard the brooding music from Nolan's Batman. I've seen Iron Man take his enemy up in the sky until they both froze up and he ran out of fuel and dropped back to earth...should i go on?So why the heck did they make this movie? Did they just assume that no one in Russia watched all of the above and they could put together a greatest hits compilation of some of the better super hero American fare? Probably. But for those of us who have seen these movies, Black Lightning (the name makes me cringe!) is a Frankenstein cut and paste, in many cases scene by scene steal of far better movies. It's b grade schlock made for an uneducated audience. Yes, I'm being harsh. I enjoyed the movie for the first 30 or so Min's. It seemed fresh and interesting. Then at about the point where the car first takes off I felt this sense of dread. Oh oh...that bit looks like America's Greatest Hero...and that bit is Transformers...and that bit is Spiderman (why am I watching this again?...never mind...it'll get better)...and that bit is just like (well you get the idea)...And the flying Volga is actually more ridiculous than a flying De Lorean...I should say some kind things about the film...let's give this a go. The heavy metal Russian soundtrack is pretty cool. The girl in the movie is rather lovely, but her flipping between the boys got old real quick. The special effects are not too bad considering it's a low budget film (although they are cheesy) and the surround mix is typically over the top for a 5.1 modern Russian film.At the end of the movie I felt disappointed and embarrassed for all concerned with this production. And Bekmambetov really should have known better!So if all the above disclaimers don't concern you, go ahead and watch it. But, you have been warned...