‘Guardians,’ the Totally Nutso Russian Superhero Movie, Has a Trailer
It’s a beautiful day. The sun is shining, the grass is green, and Russia is capitalizing on American superhero blockbuster movies. Guardians, or Zaschitniki, features four Russian superheroes who were created during the Cold War to help defend their nation against supernatural foes. The film has been in the works for about a year, and now it has an official trailer.
The trailer, dubbed in English, begins with the expository lines, “I have two weeks to search all of the former Soviet Union for the superhumans that can stop a supervillain?” “Exactly right.” We’re off to a great start! We are then introduced to our four heroes: a man who appears to have telekinetic power over rocks and also a chain whip, another guy who has two really big curved swords that he wears on his back, the Russian version of Sue Storm but with cool tattoos that maybe glow, and a dude who can transform into a bear that shoots machine guns. The four must band together to fight against a mysterious militia that the Russian army can’t handle, and the rest is mostly a medley of insane action set-pieces.
The four heroes apparently represent the four different nationalities of the USSR, and their powers reflect where they come from. So I guess we can assume that some region of Russia is full of half-bear-half-man people. The film is directed by Sarik Andreasyan, who actually has an American credit with the 2014 film American Heist, which starred Hayden Christensen, Jordana Brewster, Adrien Brody, and Akon. Guardians will hit theaters February 23, 2017.