Cosmoball Blu-ray Review

 

• 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