I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

This Strugatsky adaptation is in my opinion is made very close to the book and showing very well the complexity of the plot and the ideas of Strugatsky. Bravo for the film director for being brave enough to do it so detailed. To better understand the movie is it the best to read the book or at least the short description of the plot. The costumes and special effects are quite qualitative and definitely can stand to the Hollywood standard. I found the movie being highly underrated and extremely enjoyable. In my opinion it deserves to be added to the classics of sci fi, even through Massaraksh universe visually reminds Blade runner universe. Inhibited island plot, as generally Strugatsky novels is complex and maybe that is the reason why the movie was not valued and understood properly. My recommendation - to watch if you like serious science fiction and want to savor a great visual spectacle. Strugatsky in my opinion is the best there is of science fiction, or one of the best and being so serious about the books I would be very critical towards bad adaptation. But this one is a real success!

I loved this movie and I urge all to watch it! This is the biggest budget blockbuster movie Russia has produced to date and it does not disappoint. Nowadays we get so many high-budget blockbuster films - Transformers, The Day the Earth Stood Still - that have great special effects and are eye-candy visually, but offer little or no substance besides those fine visuals. This movie proves that when great computer generated special effects supplement an interesting plot and thought- provoking ideas, then you get truly great science fiction. Yes, when a movie has more dialog, more character development, more story-line, it is actually a much better movie! The plot in this movie is intricate, dynamic, and detailed. It may be hard at first to keep track of all the new characters and developments in the movie. But that is because the plot is based on a great novel by Strugatsky brothers. It is not simple, but is meant to present various well-rounded characters and ideas to the viewer. On one level you have a simple love story going on. On another level, there is a whole country in trouble.One of the great things about Strugatsky's fiction and this movie captures that is that though the outer shell of the story is fictional, there are clear allusions to the real world we live in today. This is what ultimately makes this such a powerful movie. The world of Sakarash is very much like Soviet Russia and Russia today in so many ways. The way that the power elite uses media and technology to control the masses, to make them helpless slaves is a reflection a system that is in place in our world today, some places especially.

I must say I am very surprised how good this movie is. For that particular convention (sci-fi) this movie have very good and logical plot (movie is based on Brothers Strugacki book), very good special effects and its well played. A guy crash his spaceship on a foreign planet and it is caught by some weirdo. Whole planet is govern by a military junta or something alike. It turns out that population is govern by some sort of radiation. I don't want to tell more not to spoil the story but bear in mind that Strugaccy Brothers are very famous sci-fi writers and the story had very strong points. For a long time I didn't have so much fun watching sci-fi movie (last favorite one was "Serenity"). Straight to the point - if You can - watch this movie. One comment to the cast - main male character looks like Ken. His smile got my nerves - even my wife agreed that he looks too perfect but that was for sure the director idea.

Those who have watched the film may remember the following episode – Guy and Rada are sitting in front of TV during the Entertainment Hour and goggling happily. What is entertainment on Saraksh is visions and dreams of ‘psychotic’ individuals. It struck me that ALL the film industry the way we know it is projecting nothing but visions and dreams of certain individuals, too(and sometimes these visions and images are no better than those shown in ‘Obitaemyy ostrov’). And book fiction is the same. So what’s the difference between Earth and Saraksh in terms of culture then? And the towers are here, too. Look around – here are the TV towers and radio towers. They project these visions and dreams to the same effect as on Saraksh. Scary, isn’t it? Where are we?On the other hand, where would the world be without this day-dreaming and wool-gathering? Do culture and a sort of hypnotic suggestion go hand in hand? How free in our minds are we really? Sad smile.