Zashchitniki

Plot synopsis:
During the Cold War, a secret organization "Patriot" gathered a team of Soviet superheroes, altering and augmenting the DNA of many selected individuals throughout the former state's territory, in order to defend the homeland from supernatural threats. The team includes representatives of the different nationalities of the Soviet Union, while each one of them have long been hiding their true identity.
It was the brainchild of a certain scientist, whose success led to his rival Professor August Kuratov (Stanislav Shirin) to attempt to escape and develop his own failed Module-1 project away from the Soviet authorities. When the military was summoned to arrest him, he bombed the Patriots' laboratory, but survived as he was covered with some chemicals. He builds a machine and augments it on himself to use his newfound powers to generate electricity and control machines, and creates an army of clones as his soldiers, to prove to the world that he is a genius.
In the present day, several walking robots that are used in an exercise turn against their supervising officials and kill them, leading to the Ministry of Defence holding a meeting and decides to use the "Patriot" organization again to find their members, lead by Major Elena Larina (Valeriya Shkirando). Four of them are found and assembled: Ler (Sebestien Sisak), who spends his time meditating in the Khor Virap Monastery in Armenia; Khan (Sanzhar Madiyev), who slices and hacks through several attackers on a plain in Kazakhstan; Ursus (Anton Pampushnyy), who attacks several hunters who trespassed into his cabin in Putorana Plateau in northern Siberia; and Xenia (Alina Lanina), who performs stunts in a circus in Moscow. Their first task is to raid Kuratov's laboratory within an old factory, but they are captured.
Kuratov offers the Guardians to join him, but they refuse. For this, he keeps three of them trapped within a magnetic force field and injures Ler. He later goes to a military facility at Noginsk to control the tanks and other vehicles stationed there, and launches an invasion of Moscow to use the Ostankino Tower and the Federation Tower for his Module-2 Project, so to transmit a signal through an old Soviet satellite which will then be sent to every other satellite orbiting Earth, and use them to control all technology on the world to his will. He also uses a force field to protect his beacon-tower, and destroy several jet fighters that were sent to shoot it. When a collaborator within the Russian military, Major-General Nikolai Dolgov, asks Kuratov for a reward, Kuratov strangles him to death.
While Ler recovers, he reminisces about his superhuman abilities preventing him from aging normally, causing his to retain his age as his wife and grandchildren moved on and passed away. At the meantime, Major Elena frees his other members from Kuratov's laboratory. She sends Kuratov's former rival to study one of the latter's clones, but Kuratov meets him and releases poison gas to kill him. Ursus and the other Guardians are trained in the Patriots' facility and are given suits and weapons.
The Guardians go to Moscow: Xenia and Ursus advance through the streets, Ler defeats several soldiers patrolling an underground car park, and Khan's airplane struggles against Kuratov's force field to fly high enough for him to land on a suitable spot. The three Guardians go into a shopping mall, and cross an iron bar linking the mall to the tower-beacon, but are attacked by more of Kuratov's troops. Khan jumps from the airplane and slices the pipe with Kuratov's troops, and joins the other Guardians.
While the other Guardians figure out a way to destroy the power source for Kuratov's beacon, Xenia touches the power source and damages herself, temporarily disabling the beacon's transmissions and causing the force field to collapse. They battle Kuratov on a platform, but after they fail to defeat and kill him, they leave on another airplane. As Kuratov's beacon interferes with the airplane's controls, Khan cuts off the grappling rope linking them to the falling airplane, and they land to a river.
As they swim up to a road, they considered going back to Kuratov's beacon to destroy it and kill Kuratov, but Major Elena arrives and refuses this. She also tells them that as superhumans, they can also transfer their energy and release it in a blast, but doing so can be fatal. The Guardians touch each other and generate a blast of energy that damages Kuratov's tower, causing Kuratov to fall to his death. Kuratov also boasts that he created the Guardians, but Major Elena replies that they created themselves.
The Guardians recover, and meet with Major Elena at a bridge at the rebuilt Moscow. Although they choose to go back to their normal lives, they also considered continuing their service to the Patriot organization. In a post-credits scene, Elena attacks a soldier after a truck stops, and the soldier answers to her that "Ferrum" sent him for an unspecified mission.

Tags: violence

Review:
Having come across the trailer 'Guardian' on the Internet, initially I was fooled into thinking it was one for the Galaxy sequel (the action scenes looked impressive), but to my surprise it was an apparent Russian blockbuster, but an even bigger surprise is the rating.
Yes, the script is rushed, and the story is basic, heck some will argue it's a Russian 'Galaxy' but it's not as bad as the score suggests, it's a shame people have jumped on the bandwagon in helping the movie look worse than it is.All major movie making countries are trying to make their own superhero films and they all have the same clichés and silly stories (including Hollywood) it just may be a little worse here.
It deserves an average 5 just for some impressive action sequences though, on that front it's the best 5 million dollars you will ever see spent on an action film, it looks like a very impressive blockbuster and puts some Hollywood ones to shame in that respect, so hope people can view this as the popcorn film it's meant to be, and the unfair score improves.Don't get me wrong there is a lot bad in terms of writing etc, but as an action movie it's watchable, maybe if only once so 3+ is an insult, 5-6 is a disappointing score for such a film but more realistic all the same, definitely better than The Asylum movies and even some of those currently they have a higher score and they have nothing going for them, at least the Guardians boasts some decent effects.Don't go by the rating make your own choice..
There was some potential in this tale of four superheroes created by the Russian government during the Cold War; that have to stay hidden until needed; but the movie sadly has very very lazy writing and even poorer editing.
Action scenes are not spectacular as they were supposed to be; and villain motivations (or goals) are not that clear.In brief; perhaps next time with better production and writing they will make a better movie; but just one is just a curiosity..
The plot is the normal on this movies, a secret project to turn man on super soldiers is shut down and the mentor of this project finds himself with superpowers and wants to rule the world.This movie has good ingredients to be a good movie, superheroes, fight scenes, nice girls , action, i only gave it 6 stars because sometimes to me it seems like the acting was not at the best, it didn't look natural, look mechanized , if the dialogues where more fluid then the movie would be better.So , the Russian avengers is a good movie to see and hope it will get better on the sequel..
I don't know why people are trying to say this movie is good, because it is not.
I liked this movie, is a little slow in the story, but the CGI amazed me, maybe is boring for the people that is used with the American movies, but with this you can change a bit...
I'm not gonna watch it again, and is nice to see that all the Russian girls in the movie are hot AF.
Collection of all the movie clichés, plagiarized plot line, mixed with Russian imperialism (somehow claiming former Soviet republics in any stupid way possible).
Don't care about what the bad critics say about this Russian movie, because such reviewers are, mostly, from countries that haven't even tried to do what the people involved in "The Guardians" did, and that is go toe to toe against Hollywood on a shoestring budget!
and if I say "Shane" their only clue will be "Logan." Yes, the movie has a few flaws, but it's mostly its simplicity, that will appeal to a cinephile like me or others, yes is the Russian X-Men but it is well done, and skips to the best possible introduction, and they are amateur superheroes easily hurt particularly while being naive and overconfident, I could go on and on about this movie, but sorry, I have to go and watch it without subtitles now!.
Put simply, it is one of the most entertaining superhero films I have seen in some time, and the best one so far this year.
This is what superhero movies are about; a focus on the powers, the dynamics between the heroes, and great action set pieces.
Let's start with the fact the movie was filmed in Russia and in Russian language.
Well, let me just say, as always, watching the original and not reading the subtitles is so much better!I see some reviewers are giving 1/10 for the simple fact they hate the country, which is sad.
Yes, the actors weren't the best for their roles(eg, the girl is a great Russian actress,but she better plays in sweet dramas and love stories...
but they did good with what they've been given.There's a lot of originality in the movie, despite some copying and perhaps less than perfect editing,directing,stunts and so forth.Yet, this movie is FAAAR from the current rating of 3.5!!!
No main stream 30 million dollar stars each to make this movie, great character names.
I didn't know Russians made decent movies.Good action, not too much like in some movies, no extravagance, I liked the story as well.The characters reminded me of some super heroes from other films but eh, at least here, it's enjoyable.It deserves to be watched and marked over 6/10..
I love the movie.Sure, it isn't the best movie, but I would rather watch this 10 times than the new Ghost in the Shell.Super heroes come in all shapes and sizes, and I like the Russian take on theirs.Story made sense as far as bad guys plans are all pretty much the same.I hope that they make a lot more of these..
It's looking interesting Awesome and different for part that superheroes or marvel or dc for this movie Guardians !!
The CGI really surprised me in a positive way :-) they brought a lot of interesting things in this department.Watching it didn't feel like a total waste of time..
No it's not going to win an Oscar, and its somewhat cheesy, but its entertaining - like watching a comic book come to life.
First unlike avengers this is not just a little kid movie as avengers have become by killing what comics made and taking out any adult content this movie plot is better then any marvel movie junk and at 2% of the marvel budget it outshines it and shows how pathetic Hollywood is now days in wasting money.
Great powers great story and women that are truly stunning unlike avengers and it was made for adults not like avengers a movie that was gutted and changed so bad when you look at the comics its a disgrace of children and non comic fans .
this is great for one big reason it has none of that laughable hey only America can save the world even though a lot of avengers are not American its funny the patriot garbage they shove down the throats wrecking a movie that could have been great if it was made like this or deadpool.
Definitely worth at least 6.5 .I think I have to start checking more for movies badly rated on IMDb.The cartoons characters including the villain do a decent acting job.
This film only cost $5 million to make so with that in mind I would say it's a pretty decent go at the Superhero film.Special effects are (in places) very good but also (in others) slightly poor.
Not terrible but you will notice it.The plot feels a little rushed in places and I think you could add 30 mins without detriment to the film.Acting is what you'd expect for this type of film.
Far from being a blockbuster, The Guardians is a very nice movie to watch at home followed by popcorn.
After hearing it was made on a 5mil budget, it's pretty damn good for a Russian superhero movie.
Sure, the story-line was so-so, the editing was bad, but for a non-Hollywood movie on this kind of budget?
Goes to show that you don't need (insert amount here) million dollars to make a movie that looks this good, CGI-wise.
but beware: you cannot watch this film and expect an American movie, it is not an American movie, it is Russian!
Some people do not understand it, it is normal for them to go to an Iranian movie and enjoy Iranian acting, but from this amazing Russian movie they expect American standards!
So, if you want to get yourself involved in Russian CG (great btw) watch gorgeous feminine Russian women, no self destructing full of mental problems super heroes and the most hilarious super villain ever, this is exactly the movie for you!.
zero development of the characters, they really look like newbies in the movie industry.
this movie is absolutely AWFUL, and waste of time and money.
The entire movie sucks, story is boring, actresses can't act, lots of ideas copied.
It's not very good.I wanted it to be good, I would have settled for quite good, but no.CGI = awful (circa 1900's SyFy channel, and I'm being generous).Story = Hm, maybe taken from a computer game released in a country ending in 'stan' and not very popular there eitherWatch at your peril.One good thing about the film is, no, sorry, I got nothing..
Some good action scenes but the acting is awful, not sure if I'll make it through to the end.
The movie feels like you're watching it on fast forward.they have the worlds worst villain.
Until now, and I've set my expectations to "low".As it turns out, it's not a good movie indeed, but it's also not nearly as bad as some of the ratings suggest.The CGI is actually quite decent, especially if you consider the apparent budget they had to work with.
The characters are all likeable, and even when their powers itself are not always that unique (a guy with a sword is a guy with a sword), it still manages to bring some uniqueness to the table that felt quite refreshing, especially if you compare it to some of the latest Hollywood/Marvel movies.The thing that bothered me most, and what ultimately brought me to the low rating, is that the characters are not developed at all.
To quote The Big Bang theory: "When was the last time you were at Best Buy and you heard someone say, "Ooh, check out this Blu-Ray player, it must be good, it was built in Russia."?" The line is terrible but compare to the plot it will be a dreamland Just like communism all over again.
The version I saw had the worst subtitles since the UK DVD release of Banlieu 13 (District 13), but, as with that film, you can pretty much make up your own dialogue and back-story for the characters; I really enjoyed the Russian take on superhero movies.
Yes the film-makers do make a couple of 'nods' to the Marvel universe, but there are plenty of Marvel villains who have their 'origin' in the Cold War, there's no reason anyone should not see this movie entirely on its own merits: well filmed, good action, and (in my interpretation of the subtitles) a reasonably well-plotted superhero movie that was more entertaining than some of the US juggernauts (Doctor Strange, I'm looking at you).
And despite the title, I don't think this is intended as a version of Guardians of the Galaxy, I think this is its own beast.I would definitely watch 'The Guardians 2' (I'm fairly sure that doesn't count as a spoiler - some if not all of the heroes may or may not survive the course of the movie), and I really hope they make it.
We saw it all and why pay money on a flick with campy dialog, bad acting, repeated trite plot and hardly believable characters when we can see all the better in US versions.
For a copy of Hollywood hero movies, special effects are not good, but they are still more reliable than 99% of the domestic ones.
Good Super Heroe Movie.
Before you read any further know that this review is based off the english Dub of the movie.This movie has divided opinion some hate it some love it and I am in the later camp while not the greatest Superhero movie ever made it is nowhere near the worst many people have poked fun at the plot saying it is silly and has been done before, 99% of Superhero movie have 1 of 3 plots Revenge, Quest for Power or Heist with the hero's ethier carrying out or stopping said events.Watch it enjoy it that's my opinionEFFECTS : Right up there with the current crop of Marvel movies.
PLOT : Standard Bad guy out to take over the world but it's a superhero movie apart from origin stories that is about 75 % of Such movies.
The four heroes were great in theory but could have been used better in the movie.
The story line was a little basic and could have done with some more depth but, the action scenes were great and 'some' of the special effects were very cool..
Good movie, could have been better.
The man/bear character was bad when doing simple things, like walking, but fine when fighting.
This movie is another disaster of Russian film making.All heroes are resemble Marvel or DC heroes.Invisible woman - from Fantastic 4.
People there don't have any emotions and characters in general are so fake.This movie is impossible to watch.
i just can't imagine who films this crap the graphic is good the the movie and the filming is very very bad.
Watch the movie and you will see it does not deserve a 3.7 rating.
It is just an average superheroes action movie, much better than some highly rated movies, but this doesn't deserve such low rating at all.I watched it because I thought it was sequel to the "Guardians of The Galaxy(2014)", but i found it was a Russian production as i keep watching it, but man, it was a good time pass.It could have been much better if they have worked a little bit on the script because it feels very fast and skips some tiny details which could have been very interesting, the character building is not well established.
I can't see how Civil War has a great scenario and The Guardians has not; f.i. The action scenes are quite good, the story flows nicely, you are never bored.
But these were laughs that suggested people already knew this film, in other words this feels like a movie that is garnering something of a cult reputation.
I don't usually like super-hero films but I have to say I sat with an inane grin on my face for the whole thing.This Russian take on the comic-book genre has four superheroes created during the Cold War who are sent out to battle an evil genius.
It actually has great special effects for a five-million-dollar movie.
It is not a good super heroes movie, but it is quite entertaining and not as bad as the ratings here indicate.
If I was still a kid in the 90s I would have loved it, but it is 2017 and I have already watch other "superhero" movies.
Tbh, maybe $5kk is the problem, but this movie had no story, visuals was awful, it was like Ubisoft game downgraded from trailer, or it was just upgraded for trailer, i don't know, but this was awful, they could at least do better CGI if they could not tell a story at all.
If they can make the guardians of the galaxy so cool, they could surely make a good movie about those soviet superheroes.
Just has a character who looks the same with the same power and same name who also happened to work for the Russian government just like the character in the Marvel comic book.
If you do not need a solid story and you like a lot of digitally generated visual effects bashing each other over the heads then you will enjoy this movie for sure....
From what the rating says its as bad as the awful Asylum sci fi horror movies.First off the special effects are top notch, maybe people hate it because its a Russian movie big deal, the women are super hot, the acting is good, its a sci fi action super hero movie so.
A good movie, it has innovation, originality and quality - if the language was English it would sweep more points, which I'm trying to say briefly - this is a good action film I'm sure they learned and later if part 2 will be better..
i watched this out of curiosity..and i found it not bad.it was so much better than the awful neo nazi avenger and iron man films,where i couldn't care less about any of them.these characters though cheesy are likable and the villain dangerous.the females are also so god damn gorgeous and 10 times better looking than any in the American superhero films..all in all likable with different types of heros and very pretty females..8/10.
So, props for that but yeah, Russia has a lot of work to do, just to be on the low tier of super hero movies (and not necessarily because of the production and special effects).
One thing is for sure, they are a whole lot better than the Turkish superheroes, so Marvel need not worry just yet..
And, as far as a superhero movie goes, a decent story.
Definitely worth your time to watch it, IF you like this type of movie.
Show don't tell.Marvel movies often have equally absurd super-hero stories and character backgrounds.