- Director : Dzhanik Fayzie
- Actors : Viktoriya Agalakova, Svetlana Ivanova, Mikhail Efremov
- Aspect Ratio : 2.35:1
- MPAA rating : Not Rated
- Media Format : Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen, Surround Sound
- Run time : 1 hour and 55 minutes
- Release date : March 23, 2021
- Subtitles: : English
- Language : Russian (DTS 5.1), English (DTS 5.1)
- Studio : Well Go Usa
Where to start with this one… At first glance,
I expected Cosmoball to be a bit more family-oriented, and to have a lot
more to do with the title game. While there are elements of a family film, and scenes
of the sport, this film is more interested in a larger sci-fi narrative that
has closer resemblance to a superhero narrative. You may come to Cosmoball
expecting Ready Player One or Alita, but you will end up with
something closer to Green Lantern.
As is the case
with most superhero origin stories, we are first introduced to our unsuspecting
hero before he has realized his potential. After nearly being killed by a car
running him over, Anton (Georgiy Bestaev) discovers that he has the power of
teleportation. There are only four humans on Earth with this ability, and together
they play an intergalactic game called Cosmoball. How and why it came to be
that alien civilizations arrived and playing a game with a shared teleportation
ability isn’t really a concern in this narrative. Once Anton has discovered the
ability it is just expected that he will join the team.
This is primarily
because the game itself is merely a front for containing a threat buried
beneath the Earth’s surface. A supervillain evil scientist named Cherno is contained
under the surface by a good scientist named Belo. Having already destroyed part
of the moon, Cherno has plans to do the same to Earth for some reason, and the
game of Cosmoball is used to disable the energy balls he releases. Players must
hit the balls five times in order to disable them, another fact that must just
be accepted without explanation.
Before long the
game is abandoned from the plot completely, and this simply turns into a
traditional superhero narrative, complete with the unexplained ability to fly.
The whole thing is a bit silly, which would be fine for a younger audience. The
problem is that the female characters are so sexualized, that this also wouldn’t
likely be appropriate for the younger audience members who the silliness seems directed
at. In the first sequence on the field of Cosmoball we see that the uniforms
can be knocked off the player with enough force, leaving a beautiful young
player (Viktoriya Agalakova) in her underwear.
The bottom line
is that if you enjoy big action sequences and heavy reliance on CGI special
effects, Cosmoball will pass as entertainment. This isn’t brilliant
stuff, but it will pass the time. There aren’t any special features other than
the option to watch it in dubbed English, if you can’t be bothered to read
subtitles.
Entertainment Value:
6.5/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 4.5/10
Historical
Significance: 3/10
Special Features: 0/10
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